Symphony
by littlewittle
Summary: AU. He'd never guess that the girl he met at the record store would change his life so drastically, but he also thinks that he doesn't care.
1. Chapter 1

He hates a lot of things here.

He hates the color of the walls, it's a dark shade of beige that makes him feel like he's in a madhouse, and the bed in his room is too tiny and can barely fit him properly, _not to mention _the way his creepy roommate stares at him all the goddamn time. Basically, he just wishes he could come back home: back to his house, the neighborhood he grew up in, his mother, his girlfriend and his old school.

Frankly, he just wants to be anywhere but here.

Being in an all-boys school was the _dumbest idea_ his stepfather, Burt, could have ever had. Just because his son thinks this school is _fantastic, _doesn't mean he _has _to as well, right? And seriously, the guy just married his mom, couldn't he at least wait a year until he started going all "dad-ish" on him?

The point is, he is locked away from everyone in an all-boys school in New York City while his mother enjoys her new life with her new husband, who happens to be a very rich man and buys her everything. He is glad for them though, really; after all, his mother worked her ass off when he was younger to keep their house and keep him fed, clothed, etcetera. What upsets him though, is that his mother seemed so eager to send him away when Burt suggested this school thing, it sort of felt like she wanted to get rid of him.

He is brought back from his thoughts when someone opens his bedroom door abruptly, and he winces at the loud noises as Jacob, this creepy guy he shares his room with, walks in, holding his books in his hands tightly against his chest.

"Hey, roomie!" Jacob cheers, setting his books on his nightstand. Finn rubs his face and sighs back.

"Hey, Jacob." He gets up and walks towards the bathroom, checking himself in the mirror, running his fingers through his hair. "So, got any big plans for the day?" Finn asks from the bathroom, his eyes still on his reflection.

"I dunno." Jacob says through his nose. "They just released Diablo III, so I'm gonna invite the gang over," Seriously, his roommate is the last person in the world to use the word _gang _when referring to his friends. "you know, go _wild _on Diablo! Maybe even watch some Star Trek as well."

"You're not gonna have a date tonight?" Finn asks, he has lived with Jacob for two weeks now, but he already knows a couple things: a) Jacob is a freak, b) he tucks his shirt in his pants and c) when Jacob says he has a _date, _he actually means spying on a girl behind the bushes of her house. Like Finn said, _a freak._

"Nah," He pulls his pants a little higher on his waist. "Thought I'd give the ladies a rest for now on. Some people just can't handle Jacob Ben Israel's hotness twenty four-seven. "Finn starts to laugh but as Jacob sends him a dirty glare, he fakes a cough. "What about you?"

Finn shrugs, walking out of the bathroom and putting on a jacket, it's really chilly out there. "I'm just going to take a walk, see new people, and breathe some fresh air... You can lock the door; I've got my keys, m'kay?" He walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him, saying it over his shoulder. "Night, man!"

And then he leaves.

* * *

He is walking through the streets, smiling softly at the flashy lights of NYC, his eyes sparkly with excitement. The good part about being sent away is that he gets to live in this awesome city and though he hasn't met a lot of people yet, he likes the New Yorkers; they are way louder than the people back home, but they make this city what it is, right? And that is kind of awesome.

He has walked this very same path for three nights a week ever since he first got here: he walks through the huge garden of the Fieldstone School for Boys, which is where he studies, then, he walks through the neighborhood, takes the subway straight to Brooklyn and goes to Symphony, a small music shop in an even smaller gallery.

He likes spending time in Symphony, it's quite small, but it has these killer vinyl records that he always buys for his collection, the walls are a bright red filled with the best 80s music's posters and huge records. Reminds him of his old bedroom, back home.

The owner, Paul, is a really nice guy and when he is not busy, he even spends sometime talking to Finn. "Finn, my man! What brings you here tonight?" Paul says as he notices Finn walking into the store.

"Oh, hey Paul." Finn waves, walking straight to the classic rock shelves, running his fingers through some of the CDs, sighing as he does not find what he wants. He marches through the store, in search for the object of his desire and he ends up finding it a few moments later.  
In someone else's hand.

He sees a small girl with olive skin and dark hair listening to something, the headphones hiding her face completely, but Finn's eyes do not fail to find a _The Smiths_ record she has in hands, holding it tightly to her chest.

He stands two feet away from her, pretending to be going through some opera CDs, (honestly, who buys opera soundtracks? Opera is like, a classy, old version of scream-o.) and watches her as she walks towards the cashier, laying the vinyl record on the counter as she looks for something through her purse.

She pulls out her wallet and Finn rushes towards her, because he needs this record. He stands awkwardly by her side, his eyes examining her face, making her stare at him blankly. They stay like that for a moment until she clears her throat, her voice soft as silk as she goes,

"Um, may I help you?" She says and _oh crap_, he has been staring at her, hasn't he? Like a creep.

"Yeah, um, I was actually wondering how much that records mean to you." He asks and her eyes widen slightly, her full lips turning into a pout as if she is looking for the answer in her head.

But she just comes out with, "Why?"

He clears his throat. "I was actually going to buy that record, I've had my eyes on it for a while now and I was waiting until it came here so I could buy it, but I see that you want it as well?"

She only nods and he continues. "Well, I want it, too. But I've had my mind set on this all day and as you know, it's more than fair for me to get the record for myself." He finishes. "So, would you hand it to me so I could buy it?"

"No."

"What?!" He asks, his eyebrows rising up on forehead. "Why not?" He asks with a huff.

"Cause, I came here earlier and I got my hands on it before you did."

"But I wanted it first!"

"What are you, five? You snooze, you lose." She says, shoving the money on the counter and smiling at Paul. He sneers and she snaps her head at him abruptly. "What?!" She asks, her hand smacking against the glassy counter.

"_You snooze, you lose." _He mocks her, sticking his tongue out a little bit. "Like _that's _mature." He says and watches her mouth twist into a sarcastic smirk.

"You know what's even _less _mature? Sticking your tongue out at someone." She huffs as she waits for Paul to give her change, but as he looks for the money in the cashier, she huffs, setting her hands on her hips. "C'mon Paul, hurry up! I have places to be and people to see!" She tells him, her nails doing an impatient dance on the glass of the counter.

"What, daddy let you stay up longer today?" Finn teases, going through some records on the counter as she shakes her head.

"I'm _twenty one, _if you must know, Mr. I Just Got in High School!" She mutters. "Leave me alone. I'm already buying the damn record, so what's the point in this anyways?" She sighs in relief as Paul hands her the change. "Besides, I bet you don't even know what real music is. You were going through the _opera _section, after all." She mocks him and he shakes his head.

"I was _spying _on you!"

She lets her head fall back slightly and lets out a small, raspy laugh. "Right, cause that's not creepy at all!" She takes the small plastic bag in hands and turns around to stare into his eyes. "Look kid, I don't know why you're so _prissy _or whatever, but is not my problem. So just go home and go play some videogames or whatever you fifteen year old kids do these days, okay?" The mysterious brunette says, thanking Paul and leaving the record store without even looking back, ignoring Finn as he cries:

"I'm _seventeen!_"

He narrows his eyes at Paul as the man laughs behind the counter, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. Finn goes through some magazines, pretending to have forgotten all about the stranger he just argued with, but after a minute or to, he huffs, setting the magazine on the counter.

"What's _her _problem, anyways?" He asks Paul as the man cleans the counter, his eyes low on the glass as Finn complains. "I've wanted that record for like, days now! You know that, don't you, Paul?"

Paul nods. "I know, kid."

"And seriously, would it hurt for her to order another record and get it in like, one week? Would it, Paul?!"

"I don't think so."

"It wouldn't, that's right! It _wouldn't!_" He says, exasperated.

Paul shrugs. "I don't know, Rachel is usually very friendly." He says, throwing the wet piece of fabric he uses to clean the counter over his shoulder, going towards the backroom.

Finn frowns. "Rachel?"

"Yeah, that's her name." Paul announces from the backroom, reaching for a Rolling Stones record on the shelf of the employee's room. He walks back into the room where Finn is standing, rests the record on the counter and looks at Finn. "Here."

The boy looks at the record, not sure of what's going on as Paul smiles at him. He takes it in his hands and brushes his long fingers onto the cover of it, his eyes shining with curiosity. "What's this?" He asks, holding up the record against the light, smiling as he sees the date on it. He loves these old records, especially ones from before the 80s.

"My favorite one from the Stones." Paul says. "I tried to make my kid listen to it, but he seems to be in a country phase." Finn shudders playfully and Paul lets out a small laugh. "And since I don't want you to leave the store with empty hands, you take this baby home, listen to it and then you let me know what you think of it, m'kay kid?"

Finn grins at Paul, thanking him and putting the record inside a plastic bag himself, wrapping it with a tight knot, just to make he won't lose the record. It seems to be very good and important for Paul, so he hopes he doesn't mess up. Finn says goodnight and lets Paul give him a small tap on his shoulder and leaves the store, walking the same path back to the school.

* * *

He wakes up with an annoying song playing in the background, something from Jacob's "country classics", surely, and sits up abruptly, looking for the alarm clock, knowing that right now, he could smash it into tiny pieces with his thumb if he wants to. He sees Jacob drying his afro with a huge, loud blow-dryer, Finn's mouth twisted into a pursed line, finally finding the alarm and throwing it on the bathroom door, startling Jacob and making him let the blow-dryer fall on his feet.

Jacob curses in Hebrew and lets out this small hiss of pain. "Finn, that was rude!" He says.

"Sorry." Finn mumbles under his breath, though he is not sorry at all, walking into the bathroom and shoving his roommate away slightly, taking his place in front of the sink and washing his face. "But you should know that the next time you wake me up to a song called _Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy_," Finn continues as he dries his face with a towel. "I won't throw the alarm clock on the door, I will throw it on your head." He says, hearing Jacob gasp in protest.

"Ha, very funny, Hudson." He snaps. "You should be thanking me instead of giving me empty threats."

"Who says they are empty? I meant every word of them."

"Anyway," his roommate continues, annoyed. "The principal's secretary knocked on everyone's doors, and we are supposed to be at the meeting room in five minutes, apparently, the principal has something to tell us."

Finn rolls his eyes, not in the mood for one of those stupid 'meetings' their principal calls nearly every week. "Great." He says under his breath. "I can't wait."

* * *

They open the huge wooden doors to the main room, allowing the students to walk in, one by one and Finn takes his seat next to Mike, a guy who is very friendly, even though he doesn't talk much. Finn smiles over at Mike, who smiles back shyly.

"Dude, what is he going to talk about this time?" Finn asks, nudging Mike's arm lightly as they watch everyone take their seats in silence. Mike shrugs, turning towards Finn a little and whispering his words.

"I don't know, but I heard someone commenting something about new people joining the school's staff. Maybe that's it?" He suggests and Finn sinks in his seat with an unpleased groan.

"If that _is _it, then we're screwed. The guy takes two hours to talk about our chores for the week, imagine if he's the one to present the new people to us." Finn says. _"Attention teachers and students, it is with great pleasure that I announce that blah, blah, blah, blah!"_ The boy mocks the Principal with his imitating voice, earning a chuckle from Mike and a glare from Miss Pillsbury, who is holding her inseparable clipboard against her chest; Miss Pillsbury is the Principal's secretary and she _worships _the ground the man walks on.

"Having a little fun, are we, Mr. Hudson?" She asks with an uneasy tone, her big eyes staring at him, reprehending him with a glare.

"No, Ms. Pillsbury." He says under his breath, looking down at his feet while Mike tries to hold back chuckles.

"Good. Now sit upright, the Principal is about to speak!" She says the last part a little too cheerfully and seriously, do they have an affair or something? Finn sits _with proper posture _or whatever on his chair and adjusts the tie of his uniform, his eyes glued on the small stage that rests in front of the chairs in the room as the teacher walks on the stage.

He sees a few more familiar people sitting behind him on the stage chairs: a few teachers, Ms. Pillsbury and some people from the cleaning staff as well. The teacher bangs his finger gently on the microphone before speaking.

"Attention teachers and students," Finn holds back a laugh as he glances at Mike, who is trying to do the same. "As you all know, a reputation is something that we, from the Fieldstone School for Boys, have great pleasure on keeping neat and clean. For thirty years, this school has been known for its quality educational system and its discipline, and even nowadays, in a world of chaos and madness, we still maintain the same discipline pattern on our school and receive very high praises for that. However, this year, things are about to change." The Principal announces, making everyone glare at each other in confusion.

"For the very first year in the history of the Fieldstone School for Boys, we're going to have a _woman _in the teaching staff."

Everyone is silent at first, but after a few seconds, the room explodes into quiet whispers as the students comment amongst each other and as Finn manages to see, some teachers do the same.

"I'd like you all to be very respectful and open-minded about this, for that I know it's a drastic change, but it doesn't have to lean for the bad side. I choose this teacher myself, for nothing else but her capacity and her talent to teach and to share knowledge."

Finn tries hard not to burst into laughter as he hears some nerds behind him whisper _"a girl?" _in shock, so he turns his attention back to the principal, who is helping a woman on the stage, leading her small body towards the microphone so that she can stand by his side.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to give a warm round of applause for Miss Rachel B. Berry, your new Musical Arts teacher."

They all applaud politely, though some are still shocked as they watch the new teacher settle herself on the stage but Finn stops applauding immediately as the teacher speaks into the microphone.

"Hello, students." She says and when her eyes wander through the crowd and stop on him, he gulps a little too loudly.

The new teacher is the girl from the music store.

* * *

**Tbc.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, it means a lot. Now, before you read, just a small reminder: Rachel joined the school staff a week after the record store situation. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, any of its characters, The Smiths or One Direction. Enjoy!  
**

* * *

She isn't staring at him, she isn't staring at him, she isn't...  
Oh crap, she _is_ staring, isn't she?

He watches her grip onto the microphone, this time a little tighter and she takes a deep breath before turning on her "teacher-mode" all over again, her eyes drifting away from his slowly. He squirts on his seat, trying to focus his stare on the brown walls behind the stage, but he keeps peeking at her every now and then and honestly, he doesn't remember her being this... _Pretty_. It was late, he was tired and the lights were weak at the record store, but he can see her face clearly now: her eyes are huge, but not in a Ms. Pillsbury scary kind of way, but like, in a girly kind of way; they have a clearer color than the walls of the conference room, but a darker color than the chocolates he sneaks into his room some nights; her body is fit, to say least, her legs can go on for miles (even though she's way shorter than him), and unlike the teachers at McKinley (that's his old school), she doesn't wear a lot of make up, just something to make her eyes, cheeks and lips pop out.

He has to admit, this girl (woman?) is prettier than he thought she was.

She finishes her speech and he watches everyone around him clap happily, making her face split into a smile. She nods and even takes a little bow before leaving the stage, sitting on the chair next to the Principal's. She smoothes her pencil skirt and Finn licks his lips because _damn_, this teacher has a nice ass. He tries to look away from her and the way she crosses her legs, but he can't because she's pretty, he's seventeen and horny, so this works quite well for him.

The Principal finishes announcing their activities for the day and leaves the stage, dismissing everyone to class and Finn turns around to ask Mike if he's going to the football practice later, but he is surprised to meet the eyes he has been trying to avoid through the whole meeting: Rachel. Or Ms. Berry. Whichever.

He gulps as she stares into his eyes, her eyebrows meeting on her forehead as she frowns, her lips twisted in a small pout as he looks around nervously, hoping that no one notices how close he actually is to the new teacher. Luckily, everyone is already going to their classes and so should he.

"I should-" He starts, trying to get up but she pushes him down, making him sit on the chair abruptly. She looks around and brings her index finger to her pouty lips, making a sign that says "do not talk" and pulls him by the hand off the chair to the corner of the room, hiding behind the small vase filled with wild flowers. She's lucky though, she's a small person and he is a 6'3 giant, he can't just hide behind things, people hide behind _him._

She now stands in front of him, her small hands on her hips and her eyes are narrowed as she speaks. "What are you doing here?"

He frowns. Isn't it kind of obvious? "Wha-"

"Are you stalking me? Is that what you doing, kid? Cause I know you were spying on me that day at the record store, you even told me so." She doesn't even take a breath, _Jesus_. "My uncle is a lawyer and he'll sue your ass, kid, he'll sue you so good-"

"Woah, woah, calm _down, _sunshine!" He says, waving his hands in the air, getting her to stop talking. "First of all, I'm _not _a kid. Second of all, this is where I go to school. I was at the meeting _wearing _the school uniform, in case you didn't notice." She nods slowly, taking in his words and he thinks she might have not realized those things before. She waves her hand on his face a little.

"Yeah, yeah, well, I didn't call you here for that." He sighs. What now?

"Why _did_ you call me here, then?"

She lowers her voice and makes a small sign for him to come closer. "You remember that day... At the record store?" She asks lowly and he rolls his eyes because _obviously _he does. How would he forget The Smiths thief?

"Yeah."

"Well," She continues. "_no one _can ever know that happened. I was stressed a little rude-" He scoffs. "Okay, a _lot _rude but if they know I treated a student like that, they'll fire me and I can't get fired, so please, _please kid_, don't open your mouth. I promise I'll be good, I'm actually a really cool person and-" He shakes his head at her, waving a hand in the air and lowering his voice also.

"Look, it's fine. It's in the past now." He grins a little as her eyes sparkle and she brings her hands together.

"Really?! Oh, thank you _so-_"

"_If_ you give me the record back."

She stares at him like he's just slapped her and he smirks, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Wh-what record?"

He rolls his eyes. "Don't play dumb, _the record. _The one you stole it from me, remember?"

"I didn't _steal _it!"

"Aha! There it is, you know what record it is!" He points at her and smirks proudly. She crosses her arms in front of her chest and is about to reply but Ms. Pillsbury appears out of nowhere and narrows her deer eyes at them.

"Is something wrong, Ms. Berry? Is Mr. Hudson disturbing you in any way, shape or form?" _The heck_, the woman is like a freakin' ninja, coming out of _nowhere_! Ms. Berry (Rachel) shakes her head slightly, a smile appearing on her lips as her voice changes completely from psychopathic to sweet and teacher-y.

"Oh no, not at all, Ms. Pillsbury!" She says, looking at Emma from beneath her lashes. "I was answering some of Mr. Hudson's questions that concern my class. I was just dismissing him to class, actually!" She turns to Finn and he notices how her smile turns a little darker and it kind of freaks him out. "So we're set then, Mr. Hudson! You may drop by my office after school for the music sheets you've asked me about."

She says and turns away from him without another word. He kind of hates how she's always doing that.

* * *

He keeps staring at the clock, anxiously waiting for the lunch break so he can leave this freakin' class, because Mr. Jacobs' Algebra class is just _so _boring that he seriously considers sticking a pen inside his eye, twirling it around and pulling it out just so that he can have a blind eye as an excuse to leave the room.

Do you see how _boring_ it is?

Finally, it's lunch time and Finn is the first one to get up from his seat, walking abruptly towards the door, taking his book and notes in his hands clumsily as he exits the room as soon as he can. Rushing towards his locker, he puts his books there, all messy and stuffed and grins as he shuts the locker, because now he's free to go talk to his friends and eat a bunch of that crap the school cafeteria has to offer.

He is walking down the hallway, ready to turn at the end of the corridor and walk towards the cafeteria when a voice calls for him from behind him. He shuts his eyes, takes a deep breath and walks again, hoping that the man calling after him will let him go and be free to have lunch with his friends but, _"Mr. Hudson!"_ The voice calls again and he mutters _crap, _turning around and forcing a smile at the man.

Mr. Schuester, his History teacher, grins at him. "Sorry to be bothering you, Finn, but I really need to talk to you about something and it is _very _important." Finn groans under his breath. "I hope that I'm not getting in the way of your plans or anything."

"Well, actually-"

"Good!" Mr. Schue claps his hands together with a smile. "Now, if you'd follow me to my office, please." He says, walking down the hallway with Finn following him.

They get to the room and Mr. Schuester sits on the chair behind his desk, gesturing to Finn so he can seat on the chair in front of the teacher. The teenager awkwardly accepts it, sitting on the chair with difficulty, since his legs are too long and the space between the desk and his chair is too short.

"So," Mr. Schuester starts. "Mr. Hudson, on the first class of the semester, about two weeks ago, I asked all of you to write me an essay about the Napoleonic Era, you remember?" Finn nods and watches as Mr. Schuester places his hands on the desk. "Good. So, you see, even though you handed me the paper on time and you searched for what I asked you to... You didn't do a very good job." The teacher places Finn's paperwork on his desk and the boy frowns at the red letter _F _scrambled on top of it. "Although you had the original point clear in your essay, you didn't connect the words, you're following me so far?" He asks, earning another nod from his student. "Okay. Your problem was, basically, the construction of the text. When I read your essay, the first thing I thought was _This is an informative text, but where is the quality in it?_" Mr. Schuester told him calmly. "I would ask you to re-write it, Finn, but I'm afraid the school doesn't allow the students to re-write their essays." Finn's eyes widened.

"W-what? So I'm just, I'm going to have an _F _on my first History grade of the semester? No, Mr. Schue, there's got to be some other way! I can't, I can't have taken an F, my mom will kill me, she is just going to kill me, I-"

"Calm down, calm down, son!" Mr. Schue says, trying to tranquilize him. "Although you can't re-write it, there are some other ways for you to make up for your bad grade." Finn breathes, feeling a little calmer now. "Are you a part of any extra curricular activities, like a club or any one of the school projects, Finn?"

He shakes his head.

"Well, usually, the students who join the extra curricular activities are looking for good grades to make up for bad ones, like you are and I think I know _just _what can be right for you." His teacher is now grinning and he sits up a little in his chair, alert. "Do you know Ms. Berry, the new Musical Arts teacher? Well, Ms. Berry and I were talking this morning and, as we both share great interest in musical arts and drama, we've decided that we're going to direct and produce the first play in the history of the Fieldstone School For Boys." Mr. Schuester announces with a proud beam washing over his face.

"A play?" Finn repeats dumbly.

"Yes, Mr. Hudson, a play. But not just _any _play! We're going to open this school season with: Peter Pan, the musical!" He grins but Finn just continues to stare at him, blankly. Noticing the confusion in the boy's eyes, he continues. "Now, Mr. Hudson, I am aware that a lot of boys aren't very fond to musical arts and probably think of it as _lame _or whatever you kids call it these days, _but_ you don't have to be on stage to be a part of the play!"

He notices that he has gained Finn's attention now, since the boy sits up and looks at him curiously, eyebrows meeting on his forehead in confusion. "No?"

"No! See, that's the beauty of the theater!" _Beauty of theater? _Seriously, Mr. Schuester, be any manlier, I dare you. "As Peter Pan is a big production, it requires a lot of more than the actors, directors and producers. We need people to work with the instruments, the lights, the scenario... It's a lot of work." Mr. Schuester tells him. "So if you are interested, in any way, to join the play, you just come by mine - or Ms. Berry's office - and we'll guide you through the whole process, okay? Also, you do not need to be apprehensive. I know how you're probably thinking how you don't know anyone who'll participate on the play, but trust me, a lot of guys will be there as well, some of them you know, some of them you'll become friends with. Heck, there will even be some girls there!"

"Girls? But isn't this an all boys school?"

The teacher chuckles. "Yes, well, as the play we're presenting has two _very _important female characters, Wendy and Tinkerbell, we're going to talk to Ms. Holliday, from the St. James School For Girls, and make them a proposition to join our play. I think it would be very interesting to have two schools working together to put on an amazing play, don't you?"

Finn lies. "Sure." He's not lying, really, he just doesn't care.

Mr. Schuester seems pleased with his answer though, as he smiles and gets up from his chair, Finn doing the same as his teacher leads him towards the door. "Good. Well, like I said, if you need to know anything about the play or if you _want _to join us, just let me or Ms. Berry know and we'll help you immediately, okay?" He says, opening the door and watching the student leave his office, but before Finn can go to lunch, Will Schuester calls. "And Finn, if I were you, I'd seriously consider joining the play. It'll benefit your grades and who knows, you might even enjoy it!"

* * *

He is sitting on their usual table, Mike having the same chicken salad, Artie adjusting his glasses while he bites on his peanut butter sandwich, Sam not even breathing, practically inhaling his food and Rory, who has already finished his lunch, is playing with his Nintendo PSP.

Finn drops his fork on the plate a little loudly, making his friends turn their attention to him. He swallows some of the meat he was having while Artie asks if there's something wrong.

"I think I'm going to join the school play." He says simply, looking up at his friends, trying to read their expressions. They stay silent for a moment before they all break in with questions.

"That's awesome, but why are you joining?"

"Does the school have a play? I didn't know that."

"Are you going to wear a costume? Because like, if you do, I might have to film that."

"Woah, calm down." He says, waving his hands in the air. "First of all, no, I'm not _going to wear a costume. _I don't plan on it, at least." He shrugs. "The thing is, I talked to Mr. Schuester a few minutes ago and he told me that I didn't go very well on that last essay he asked us to write, and as I can't re-write it, I have to make up for the bad grade. So he said that a good way of making up for it is by being a part of-"

"Extra curricular activities." Artie finishes, biting down on his sandwich again.

"Exactly. And hey, he said we don't even have to be on the stage to be on the play. We can just help organizing it."

Sam nods. "That's cool. I think I'm with you in this, dude. I mean, I'm good at History and all, but Algebra is _killing me._ I am _totally _going to need some help with my grades." He says, reaching for Finn's hand so they can fist bump, making the taller boy grin.

"Cool. At least we're not going to be alone in this. Are you guys doing it, too?" He asks towards Mike, Rory and Artie. Rory, the foreign boy, shrugs, speaking up.

"I don't know. I might! I mean, my mom would love if I joined a play and had someone to film it so that I could e-mail her with some videos. She'd _always _make me join school plays back home. Plus, I spend most of the afternoon playing video games; it would be nice to do something else for a change." He says with a smile. "I'm in."

"Is there any dancing on this play?" Mike asks shyly from the other side of the table. "I can't sing, not really, but I sure can dance. As long as my parents don't find out about it, they would die if they did, I want to be in it."

Finn smiles. "Awesome! What about you, Artie?"

The boy adjusts his glasses, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I could help you guys. I mean, since you're all joining and I'll basically have no one to hang out with during the afternoons, I might as well help too. Oh! I can help with the lights! Or maybe directing? I like telling people what to do." He chuckles, making all the boys laugh along with him.

"So we're settled then? Everyone is joining the play?"

The friends nod and get back to their lunches and Finn grins, happy that even if this play sucks, his friends will be there with him.

* * *

It's 3pm _sharp _when he knocks on Ms. Berry's office door. When he said he'd come to her office right after school, he really meant it. She opens the door for him a little bit, peeking through the small gap and sighing as she notices who it is. She opens the door a little wider and allows him in, telling him to get comfortable while she shuts the door.

He sits on the small couch placed near a side table decorated with a pink vase of flowers. He looks around her office and chuckles slightly: she has all the books you could possibly imagine on her bookshelf, The Perks of Being an Wallflower, To Kill A Mockingbird, Lolita, she even has a copy of Twilight, seriously, the woman must breathe books; Ms. Berry has also placed a lot of photos of herself with two men hugging her, a girl and a guy hugging her while she was a teenager, a photo of her dressed in weird costumes with a lot of kids around her and it's probably some play she has been a part of, or something.

He notices it's all very... Her. Y'know, crazy but also really cute.

She walks towards her bookshelf and stands on her toes, trying to get something out of it, but she can't reach it because it's on the last shelf. Finn gets up and walks towards her, reaching for the object (his record, yay) without any effort. She blushes and mutters a small thank you, earning a nod from him as a response. She sits on her armchair and he sits still on the couch while he watches her: she's wearing glasses now, something she didn't on the meeting, but they match her, they're sort of square-y, black, serious but also really adorable. He blushes as he notices the adjective he has just used to describe his _teacher's_ glasses.

"So." She brings him out of his thoughts with her voice. He blinks, staring at her with steady, attention-filled eyes. "Here's the record I promised I'd give it to you." She says, placing the record on the hard surface of the desk.

"You mean you promised you'd give it _back _to me."

She glares at him from beneath her glasses. "Don't push your luck, kid." She says sharply. He nods, reaching for the record and placing it on his lap, holding it in his hands carefully, after all, it's very special to him. He looks up from the record and notices that she was staring at him, making her look away as soon as he catches her staring. She is blushing now and maybe, just maybe, she wasn't just staring, she was _checking him out.  
_

But no, she couldn't have been, because she is his teacher and she wouldn't do that, would she?

"I hope you take care of the record." She tells him softly. He looks at her with a frown, feeling a certain sadness on her tone. She is looking away from him, tapping her small hands on the wooden desk. He cocks his head to the side and stares as she talks. "I had a lot of fun listening to it."

"You listened to it?" He asks, engaging conversation.

"Of course! Why would I buy it if I didn't?" He feels his ears turning red, so he looks down and mutters that some people just _collect _the records. "Oh, no! I mean, yes, I know that, but it's just... It would be like having a toy and not playing with it, you know? It's just illogical." She finishes, smoothing her skirt and he thanks Heavens that he can't see her legs due to the table, because she has a smaller skirt now and he's pretty sure he'd have creamed himself right now.

Finn clears his throat. "You own a record player?"

She grins, nodding. "Oh yes! I'm very into _vintage _stuff, including old records, always have been. When I was fifteen, my dads gave a record player to me, along with a bunch of old records they had. It was lovely, I couldn't stop listening to The Beatles for the whole week." She giggles and he smiles, just a small grin, because her laugh is just so warm that makes him want to laugh along with her. But that's totally normal. It is, okay?! "What kind of music do you like, Finn?" His eyes widen as she uses his first name, because how the heck did she know?

"How do you know my name?" Woah, smooth Finn. _Real smooth._

"Oh." She blushes. "I talked to Mr. Schuester today and he mentioned you once or twice." She waves her hands in the air.

"And you remembered my name?" There's a small smile forming on his lips now and she blushes even deeper, like, she's totally red now and it's adorable.

"Yes well, I have an excellent memory." She clears her throat. "You still didn't answer me! What kind of music do you like?"

"Um..." He thinks for a moment, a pout forming on his lips as he concentrates. "Well, I listen to all kinds of Rock, my favorite type of Rock is Indie, though. Alternative music is also good, but I mostly listen to it when I can't sleep and I need something to calm me down." She laughs at the comment. "I also like Pop, but like, old pop, 80's pop, you know? Michael Jackson's Pop, not... One Direction Pop." He says and she gasps, leaning on her desk with a fake offended look on her face.

"I happen to like One Direction!" She says with a grin and he rolls his eyes.

"It's a shame that you're a Smiths fan, yet you listen to One Direction. That crap gets stuck in your head for days! I can't listen to it and not think about it." She nods, a small smirk forming on her lips. "What?" He questions.

"_Everyone else in the room can see it..."  
_

"Jesus, don't."

_"Everyone else but you!" _He buries his face in his hands with a groan while she giggles, singing a little louder. _"Baby, you light up my world like nobody else!_" _H_e peeks through his hands a little bit, looking up as he listens to her because even though he doesn't like the song, her voice is like, **amazing**. _"The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed! But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell! You don't know, oh oh, you don't know you're beautiful, oh oh!_" She sings and he can't believe he is about to do this, but his mouth opens before he can process and he goes:

_"That's what makes you beautiful!"_ He finishes the song and they are both grinning like idiots right now and she is by far, the coolest teacher he has ever met, and he hasn't even had classes with her. She calms her breathing, giggling softly and he chuckles as well, adjusting his uniform tie.

It was a nice moment, but the next one is followed by silence. And the one after that.

And it's getting really uncomfortable, but why doesn't he want to leave? "Mr. Schuester talked to me about the play, today." He breaks the silence.

"Oh, really? That's good." She offers a beam. "Are you joining it?"

He nods shyly. "Yes. I even talked to my friends about it, told them about that grade/extra curricular activity thing, and they're in as well." She claps with her small hands, excitement clear on her features.

"That's incredible! Oh, it's going to be amazing!" She squeals a little bit and damn it, she's too cute. "You won't regret it, Finn. I've been part of many plays in my High School years and it was one of the best experiences of my life, I had so much fun." Rachel tells him excitedly. He nods, smiling along with her. Maybe this play won't be so bad. His friends will be there and Ms. Berry will be directing, so... Yeah, it won't be bad.

She looks up at the clock which is hanging on the wall behind her and gasps. "Oh no, look at the time! I'm already late, crap!" She looks at him, eyes wided. "Oh shit, I just cursed in front of you! Oh crap, I did it again! Ugh, I'm so sorry, Finn, I'm not this crude, usually, but I'm just so worried and late and..." She breathes. "Why am I telling you this? You don't care." She forces a giggle, waving her hands in the air and getting up from her chair, leading him towards the door.

She looks up at him and offers him her hand, smiling softly. "It was a pleasure having you over to my office, Mr. Hudson. Although you _did _steal my record..."

"_My _record." He corrects with a smile.

"Anyway!" She says. "You were the first student I've had here, so hey, you're special!" She giggles, but once she glances back at the clock, worry washes over her again. "Seriously though, I have to go, Finn. I'll see you in class... Are you in my class?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good! So I'll see you Thursday, bye!" She says and shuts the door behind her.

He doesn't know what was making her rush herself like this, but he hopes everything is okay. He walks down the hallways, wanting to just get to his dorm, put his record someplace safe and take a shower, because he smells gross, but then notices that he is singing _What Makes You Beautiful _under his breath.

He stops in place and grins because, you know what? The song _is_ stuck in his head again but this time?

This time he doesn't mind at all.

* * *

**Tbc.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.**

* * *

Rachel dismisses Finn as soon as possible and once the young man is far away from the room, she opens her laptop and turns it on, logging into Skype immediately.

Searching through her online contacts, she sighs in relief as she spots the person she was hoping to talk to online. Clicking on the username, she turns on her webcam and smiles at the screen as she spots a very familiar man on the other side of the screen.

"Hey pumpkin." The man smiles warmly, making her mouth twist into a smile as well.

"Hi daddy." She breaths. Hiram adjusts his glasses on his face slightly, frowning a little as the objects slips off his nose. "How are you?"

"I'm doing good, pumpkin. How are you? How is the new job there in the Big Apple?" He asks in interest, but she shrugs as an answer.

"It's quite alright. The place is amazing, the staff is very polite and the students are..." Her mind goes to a tall young man with a freckled nose and a shiny smile. "Interesting." She finishes, suppressing a small smile of coming out of her throat. Suddenly though, her face is taken over by a saddened expression as she asks:

"How is dad doing?" She bites her lip, and to that, her daddy sighs, rubbing his face.

"He is doing as fine as he could be, sweetie." Her father lets her know, sadness taking over his voice. "It's good that you're being able to get online every once in a while, though. He misses talking to you, but unfortunately, he has just been to group therapy, so the doctor thought he needed some rest right now. I'll make sure to call you later, so the both of you can talk privately, okay, sweetie?" She nods and bites onto her lower lip as she notices her father cringe a little.

"What is it, daddy?" She asks worriedly and when her father sighs and brings a hand to his eyes, she notices how he's wiping his tears away.

"H-he," She notices he's trying hard not to cry much. "He forgot who I was yesterday, Rae." He sniffs and Rachel's eyes soften and even though she wants to cry and she's feeling her heart breaking, she can't show weakness, not in front of her father, not when he needs her the most. "I was helping him shower and when I asked him something, he looked at me and it was like he didn't know me at all! He even asked if I was his nurse."

His face was wet with tears. "And when he remembered who I was, he was just so hurt that he'd even forget about me that he locked himself in the bathroom for hours, Rae. I was so worried that I kept knocking on the door through the hours, just to make sure he wasn't trying to-" But his words are choked into his sobs as he tries to pull himself together and her heart breaks in her chest.

"Oh, daddy." She murmurs. "It'll be alright." She wishes she could cross the screen, _just this once, _just so she could caress her father's face, comfort him, tell him it'll be okay, even though she isn't so sure about it either.

"I know, Rae, I know." Her daddy sniffs his nose on his sweater sleeve and she frowns, touching the screen lightly. She's so worried, but there's nothing more that she can do. "You know, your father and I are _so _grateful for you, sweetie." He tells her, a ghost of a smile forming on his chopped lips. Her daddy used to look so handsome, but now he's worn up from his husband's disease, just like she is. "You decided to postpone your Broadway dreams, a dream you've had ever since you were _three _just so you could help us afford your father's treatment. You're the best daughter in the whole world; I hope you know that, Rae."

She grins at her father, the tears welling up in her eyes. "Thank you, daddy. I'm sure you both would do the same for me if I needed so." She nods with a smile. She sees her father glance over his shoulder and frowns. "Daddy, something wrong?"

He shakes his head slightly. "Nothing, sweetie. Your father's doctor is just calling me. I'll call you later so you and dad can talk, okay? Love you, cutie pie." He blows her a kiss through the screen and logs off before she can reply.

She shuts the laptop and lets the tears fall free now.

* * *

Ms. Berry's class is the first one of the day.

He makes sure to adjust his uniform, letting it all tidy and fixed so that she doesn't think he's a slob or anything; he also brushes his hair and puts on some cologne for what it must be the first time in the year.

He sits near Rory and watches all of his friends' head turn around and stare at him strangely. He frowns and switches on his seat. "What's with all the creepy eyes?" He mumbles, opening his Musical Arts book and pretending to be reading it, trying to avoid the gazes upon him.

"Dude, are you wearing _cologne?_" Sam asks with a snigger, making him blush deeply, his ears burning.

"No." He lies through his teeth. "My mom bought me a new soap, okay?" He says, trying to shut them up, but he notices the subject hasn't been dropped yet as Rory wiggles his eyebrows at him.

"Oh, really? Did mommy also brush your hair?" He asks and all of his friends laugh at him, except for Finn, of course, who isn't finding this amusing at all. Finn flips him the middle finger and Rory pouts, pretending to be offended.

"Fuck you!" Finn exclaims. "I hadn't realized it was _sin _to shower now." He snaps and Artie smirks.

"Lay off Finn, guys." He says and Finn sighs, almost thanking Artie for his support, but before he opens his mouth, Artie continues. "He just wants to look _pretty _and _witty _and-"

"Good morning, class!" All their heads turn to face their new teacher, Ms. Berry, while she holds onto some of her books, which are way too large for such a petite woman like herself to hold.

He was about to get up and help her when the douchbag Noah Puckerman beat him to it. Noah, or "Puck", is one of the douchiest kids there on Fieldstone. He likes to hang out with some of the guys from the team, like Dave, Azimio and Rick the Stick, and their hobbies involve: vandalism, especially on school grounds, throw kids like Finn and his friends in dumpsters and flirt with every single breathing woman on Earth. It's all kinds of lame.

He watches in disgust as Ms. Berry beams brightly at the dude, thanking him and tucking a small piece of her hair behind her ear. He nearly vomits as Puck smirks and tells her_ it's not a problem, sugar._

Is he allowed to talk to the teachers like that? Probably not.

But Finn isn't allowed to playfully argue with the teachers about stealing his records, yet he did so, with Ms. Berry obviously, just two days ago.

"Well, anyway," she waves her hands in the air, oblivious to the stares she's receiving from the students. "As you may know, I'm Rachel Berry, or Ms. Berry, whichever you prefer, your new Musical Arts teacher. I am aware that some of you are not very used to having female teachers around, but fear not, I promise to be as serious and professional as many other teachers from here. Any questions?"

No one seems to have any doubts, so she goes on. "Good! Well, I have scheduled our classes for the week and as our first assignment, I will be doing something a little... Different with you guys."

She notices how all of them look amongst each other, nervous to be breaking their routine. "Oh c'mon, it will be fun." She smiles and when her eyes meet Finn's, he is most positively sure he'll do anything she wants him to, fun or not. "Follow me!" She says, leaving the classroom, leaving a bunch of admired students in the class.

* * *

They're standing outside at the patio, watching confusedly as Ms. Berry spins around the place, kicking some of the dirt of the grass off her shoes as she breathes in and out, smirking as all the students stand there, only admiring her.

"You guys have been too disciplined." She tells them simply, her hands resting on her hips as she looks at each one of them in the eye. "You've been learning about chemical equations, mathematical formulas, but where's the heart in all of that? Where's the _passion?_" The way the words slips off her mouth makes Finn melt a little, honestly. "There's no sure way to teach one how to _do _music. Music isn't something you _do; _it's something you feel, something you _express._" She beams at them and they all stare back at her like she's mad, except for Finn, who has a huge grin on his lips through the whole time.

"Come here." She tells them as she stands by a tree, hugging the wood tightly and the young boy wishes he could be a tree, just this once. "Shh, stay silent, all of you. Just be quiet and listen. Can you notice anything?" They stand still, none of them talking or nearly breathing, but failing to hear anything. She shuts her eyes and breathes in and out, a slow smirk spreading across her lips. "Can you hear it?"

They all shake their heads and her shoulders slump. Her expression is sadder; almost disappointed as she sighs and walks through the patio, until Finn raises his freakishly long arms and goes: "Ms. Berry? I think I can."

She looks at him like he has just said the most beautiful poetry she has ever listened to. "Really?" She smiles shyly and he smiles back at her.

"Yeah." He breathes, noticing how everyone is staring at him as well. "I hear the leaves brushing against the trees…" He gulps a little too loud as he hears some guys in the back chuckle at him. "I hear the birds singing… I hear the wind blowing…" He finishes, peaking through his eyes that he didn't even notice that were closed.

He finds his friends staring at him like he has just grown another head, the other guys laughing at him and calling him names from behind his back, but when he eyes lay on Rachel's, everything stops: she's looking at him like he's the most beautiful thing she has ever seen.

"Yes!" She squeals, clapping a little. "That's exactly it. Very good, Mr. Hudson, very good!" She seems happy. "You see class, that is true music." Ms. Berry smiles. "It isn't hard to find, yet is not easy to hear. You have to be quiet, you have to focus on the environment you are on in order to let the music float right through you. A fun fact: a few of the greatest musicians in the world practice - often, that is - meditation and you know why? Because it helps you focus on the environment, the sounds, the lights and the feelings that surround you and that helps you a lot in the music business, more than you can imagine." She looks down at her watch and turns her attention back to the students. "Children, as we've only got fifteen more minutes left, I shall lead you all towards the classroom so we can be through with our class today."

As they arrive at the classroom and each of the kids take their seats, Ms. Berry writes, in a pretty and feminine calligraphy, the words "Peter Pan" on the board and turns towards the students, explaining all the stuff about the musical she and Mr. Schue had once told Finn.

As she finishes, she tells the students that she has set a list on the hallway for the ones who would like to audition and tells them that the auditions will be on Friday at 4pm sharp and she tells them not to be late.

They leave the classroom, each one with their friends on their side as they chat while heading towards the next classroom.

"The new teacher is hot." Finn hears Puckerman say, earning a nod from his friends.

"Yeah, she has a tight little body." Azimio agrees and Finn just wants to punch the guy's throat, seriously, what a dickhead. "She ain't pretty though. Didja see the nose on that chick? It was like it was taking over her face." He laughs and his Neanderthal friends agree with him, laughing as well.

"Although I appreciate you having enough focus on my class to be able to judge me and my physical features," Ms. Berry's voice echoes through the hallway, making all the students turn around in shock as she continues. "It is not polite to bark about a teacher like that and if you ever disrespect me again, I will get you into such trouble, boy, that not even your rich daddy will be able to get you out of it, do you understand?" She spits bitterly, the side of her mouth turned into a smirk as she notices Puckerman and his friends turn pale in fear.

"Yes ma'am." They all say together and she smiles, brushing right past them.

"Good, now go to class! I am sure you have a bunch of other teachers to judge! Chop, chop, and chop!" She says cheerfully and Finn is left with a smirk on his lips because Ms. Berry has just become _the most awesome teacher ever_.

* * *

Puckerman approaches him one day in the showers, which is kind of weird because not only he's naked, but because it's _Puckerman. _

"Yo, Finnegan!" He says, tapping his back and Finn cringes.

"It's _Finn._" He says with an annoyed tone that he hopes the dude catches and leaves him alone. He doesn't.

"Yeah whatever, listen…" Puckerman continues. "As you probably know, I'm not the brightest kid around here…" Finn snickers because well, _duh _and Puckerman doesn't seem to like that, as he narrows his eyes at the taller boy. "But I really _do _need to graduate, I gotta make my momma proud dude, she works hard enough to keep me in this school, so I can't screw this up." Finn's features soften a little. "And you know, I heard you and your dorky friends say something about joining Ms. Berry's play, so I was wondering if you could…" He mumbled the last words so low that even Finn, who was standing right by him, couldn't hear.

"What was that?" He asks with a frown and Puck sighs.

"I was wondering if you could _help me._ I need to be in that play and I have some awesome vocals, man, but I don't know shit about _technique _and those things, man." He says, his shoulders slumping in defeat. "Could you maybe help me rehearse or something like that? I know I've been an asshole for you and your friends for like, a while now…"

"Forever, you mean." Finn says, not fearing his words this time.

"Yeah but, I need you guys and… And if you help me get in the play, I promise I'll stop picking on you." He says and Finn looks at him like he has just grown a second head. "I'm serious, dude. A Puckerman may be a lot of things, but we keep our promises. If you sing with me on the auditions and we get in, I'll leave you and your friends alone for the rest of the year."

Finn analyzed the situation, going through the pros and cons in his head and sighing. "I want you to promise me that you'll keep your word until the end, Puckerman."

Puck's face breaks into a wide grin. "Yeah, totally!"

"No, no, I'm going to make you sign it down, I'll make a video and an audio record of you saying that, just to make sure you'll stay true to your word." Puck nods and shrugs.

"Sounds fair. Not even I trust myself sometimes." He chuckles and Finn laughs along with him.

"Okay, cool. But hey dude, if you want to sing with me, you have to put yourself into it. We have to rehearse, you can't say shit about me or my friends while I'm teaching you stuff _and _I'll choose the song." He smirks, proud of his conditions and Puck grips his hand, shaking it.

"You've got yourself a deal, Hudson."

* * *

After three days of rehearsing for hours and hours straight, Finn and Puck are ready for the audition of their lives. Well, sort of.

Puck had kept his word through the whole process, which surprised Finn a lot. The dude _does _have a lot of potential, his voice is great and he can play the guitar amazingly, just like Finn totally _kills _with the drums. They make a good due, he figures.

So, when they're at the audition, Puck seems nervous and Finn frowns, tapping his back. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah." Puck shrugs lightly, though his expression maintains the tense features. "I just… What if I don't get in, dude? What if I fail school? My mom is gonna kill me." He sighs. "I don't wanna be a loser like my dad."

"Man, it's the beginning of the year. You have plenty of time; if you study hard and work your ass off, I'm sure you'll graduate just fine." Finn grins and when they call their names towards the stage, he gets up and throws a playful punch on Puck's shoulder. "C'mon, let's kick some ass."

Puck grins, getting up and heading towards the stage. On the directory table (or whatever the teachers are calling it), Ms. Berry, Mr. Schue and Artie are staring at them, and apparently, his friend manage to get to be the director, like he had early planned. Good for him.

"Name, age, part you're auditioning for and what you're singing." Artie tells them.

"Um, Finn Hudson and Noah Puckerman; 17 years old, we are auditioning for Michael and George Darling respectively." Finn glances over at Puck, who nods at him. "Oh! And we're singing _R U Mine _by the Arctic Monkeys." Finn says, sitting behind the drums and watching as Ms. Berry's mouth twists into a smirk.

Puck adjusts the guitar strap on his shoulder and brushes his fingers against the strings, smirking as he feels a wave of confidence rushing through him. Finn smirks and taps on the drums.

"One, two, three, go!" He watches as the band begins with the instrumental and he waits for his cue to enter the song, his voice taking over the room.

"_I'm a puppet on a string_

_Tracy Island, time-traveling diamond_

_Could've shaped heartaches_

_They've come to find ya fall in some velvet morning"_

Puck joins, playing the guitar while he's drumming and singing.

"_Years too late_

_She's a silver lining, lone ranger riding_

_Through an open space_

_In my mind, when she's not right there beside me…"_

Finn is madly drumming as he joins Noah in the song, their voices mixing with perfect harmony.

"_I go crazy 'cause here isn't where I wanna be_

_And satisfaction feels like a distant memory_

_And I can't help myself,_

_All I wanna hear her say is - are you mine?_

_Well, are you mine?_

_Are you mine tomorrow?_

_Are you mine? Or just mine tonight?_

_Are you mine? Are you mine?"_

Finn takes the next part by himself, singing with everything he has while he drums, his forehead already covered in sweat.

"_And the thrill of the chase moves in mysterious ways_

_So in case I'm mistaken,_

_I just wanna hear you say - you got me, baby_

_Are you mine?"_

Puck _kills _his guitar solo, his fingers expertly brushing, tugging and playing with the guitar as Finn drums along, giving the beat to the song. Finn continues to sing after Puck finishes the guitar solo, singing by himself.

"_She's a silver lining, lone ranger riding_

_Through an open space_

_In my mind when she's not right there beside me_

_I go crazy cause here isn't where I wanna be_

_And satisfaction feels like a distant memory_

_And I can't help myself,_

_All I wanna hear her say is - Are you mine?-"_

They sing the last part with perfect harmony, their young voices mixing perfectly.

"_Well, are you mine?_

_Are you mine tomorrow?_

_Are you mine? Or just mine tonight?_

_Are you mine?_

_Are you mine tomorrow?_

_Or just mine tonight?"_

They let the instrumental blend into their voices and make them fade away as the song finishes. They're standing breathless on the stage, both of them staring at each other with grins all over their faces and Finn even sends Puck a _thumbs up_.

"That was awesome, guys!" He hears Mr. Schue say, clapping excitedly. "I've seen your acting skills on the previous audition, but this? _Blown away!_" He says, with a hand resting on his chest as Ms. Berry claps with a huge grin.

"Yes! You were both incredible, congratulations boys!" She smiles. "While I enjoyed the whole performance, _particularly _the drumming," She smirks at Finn, who turns into a deep shade of red. "You're both aware that this is a _musical, _right? There won't be any rock and roll, or anyone dressed in tight jeans playing the guitar, or-"

"Yes, Ms. Berry." They say finally, breaking her speech. She seems taken aback at first, but smiles, nevertheless.

"Okay, good. I have no further questions for you guys! Well, the list comes out Monday, first thing in the morning, and you should check it!" She tells them and tells them they can leave now.

As they leave the auditorium, Finn is taken back by Puck's arms wrapped around him in a hug, making him jump back a little. The shorter boy smiles lightly and speaks up.

"Thanks, man. You know, for helping me and believing in me." He seems uncomfortable. "No one has ever done that before." He throws another punch at Finn's shoulder. "By the way, if you tell anyone about that hug, you're dead." Puck chuckles and walks away, leaving a very shocked Finn behind him.

Well, shit. Puckerman _isn't _a complete asshole.

* * *

The list comes out on Monday, at 8am sharp. Finn and his friends are chatting by the locker and he is the first one to see Ms. Berry walking towards the board and place the list there. Finn shoves Sam on the shoulder to get their attention and they all smile, walking towards the list.

Puckerman is standing there as well, apprehension clear on his face as he waits for the small crowd around the list to leave so he can read as well. He glances over at Finn and discreetly shares a fist-bump with him, wishing him good luck with no words.

Finn approaches the piece of paper hanging on the notes board and breathes nervously, reading through the names eagerly.

_Rory Flanagan… Peter Pan_

_Noah Puckerman… George Darling_

_Finn Hudson… John Darling_

_Sam Evans… Michael Darling_

_Michael Chang, Rick Nelson, Matt Rutherford … Lost Boys_

Holy crap, holy crap.

He did it. He actually _did _it! He's in the play! And all of his friends are also in the play and Puckerman won't be bullying them anymore and holy crap, he feels so good right now…

He goes towards his friends and talk to them, even tapping Puck on the back as the dude smiles and thanks Finn, and even though no one else seemed to notice, he could see Ms. Berry standing against her classroom door, a small smile formed on her lips.

He waves at her and she waves back with a grin, mouthing him a _congratulations _and showing him her thumbs up, nodding in approval.

It's when she giggles at his silly expression and enters her classroom that he realizes how much he likes her.

No, Finn Hudson doesn't just like her. He realizes, also, that he is pretty screwed because let's face it.

He has a crush on his Musical Arts teacher.

* * *

**Tbc. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: So sorry for taking so long to update, I was just really stuck with this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for the reviews, by the way!**

* * *

On Thursday, they meet the girls from the play.

They see a pink, girly bus stop in front of the school and immediately, all the boys drag themselves towards their bedroom and hallway windows, cheeks glued to the cold glass as they peek through them, watching the girls walking out of their bus in all their glory (Finn even makes a joke about that scene on Goblet of Fire when the Beauxbatons girls arrive at Hogwarts and some guys laugh at it. It's a good joke!); and while all of his colleagues' eyes are glued to the girls of the St. James School for Girls, Finn holds his gaze at Ms. Berry, watching her as she walks towards the front porch of the school and smooth her skirt - something she does _a lot, _he notices - and shakes hands with a tall, blonde woman, which he guesses it must be Ms. Holliday, the one Mr. Schue told him about. They laugh at something Ms. Berry says and everyone pulls back from their windows as they notice how the group heads towards the stairs of the school.

The staff dismisses everyone who is _not _a part of the play and tells them to head back to their bedrooms, while the people who are in the play are directed to the auditorium, where apparently, they're having a meeting at.

They sit in a circle, boys and girls separated, of course, while they wait for the teachers to speak up, Mr. Schue being the first one to do so. The man stands in the middle of the circle, hands on his hips and a smile on his lips as he speaks.

"Good evening, students! It is with great pleasure that I call this meeting, _aka _the first meeting that concerns our play!" He claps his hands together and some people join in, Ms. Berry most excitedly than the rest of them. "As you know, the auditions were tough and even though many people who were good didn't make it, you should all be very proud of yourselves for making it this far. As a part of the Fieldstone staff, I'd like to welcome the girls from the St. James School with some heartwarming applause! Guys, please, let's make the girls feel home and very welcome." Mr. Schuester applauds and Finn sees Puck is about to say something dirty and stupid, so he slaps him across the head and the boy flinches, discreetly flipping him the bird.

"Now, as you know, the two schools are joining this artistic project together so that we can make this play as amazing as we possibly can and even though I know all of you will be great and _very well behaved_, I'd like to talk through a couple of rules. Number one, _no girl_ is allowed to leave this auditorium without any company from the teachers' staff, which means, no sneaking for _making out _or whatever you kids call it these days." He waves his hand in the air.

"Number two, I'm sure some of you will end up getting to _know_ each other a bit better than others, but please, keep any kind of inappropriate behavior, such as kissing and touching _out _of the theater. If you want to be together, no one can stop you, really, but do not mix your personal life with your careers, understood?" The students nod. "And number three: _have fun. _Even though both schools are very much traditional, that doesn't mean you guys can't enjoy the experience! Make new friends, _share _new things, learn interesting stuff and who knows what you might get in the future!" There's a small moment of silence, but Mr. Schuester breaks it by clapping his hands together. "Okay, great! Now, kids, we would like you all to stand up and introduce yourselves for the group, so that we'll at least start by the first name bases." He chuckles and helps some of the girls up.

Finn studies the girls for a brief moment: they all seem very much alike, each one has their hair tied in a high, very well brushed ponytail, their uniform consists in a tidy burgundy jacket, a white shirt underneath it, a navy blue skirt that reaches their skinny knees and they carry a pin with the symbol of the school -which is a small golden cross - on the right side of their chest, while their feet are covered by black flats. They look like they've just gotten out of a TV commercial, honestly. They stand behind each other in a perfectly aligned line as each one of them takes their turn to speak.

"Hi, I'm Brittany and I'll be playing Wendy Darling!" A blonde, blue eyed girl says with a bright smile and Finn thinks she seems nice, plus, she's very pretty. He notices how she's holding hands with a girl that is staring at him like she's gonna burn him alive and maybe, _just maybe _he has been staring at this girl's girlfriend. The jealous girl is the one to speak up next.

"Hey, I'm Santana Lopez and I'll be playing Tiger Lily." She says and squeezes Brittany's hand, who smiles over at her. They're kind of cute, Finn thinks. Next one to speak is a girl with a _loud, loud _voice.

"I'm Sugar Motta and I'm playing Liza, the maid." She even takes a big bow, nearly falling on the floor as she leans in too much and the boys bite their lips, controlling their laughter. Next, comes a girl with green, feline eyes and blonde curls tied in her ponytail, her nasal voice enters their ears like music, because she makes it sound sexy and endearing, even.

"Hi," She says with a little wave and a small smirk plastered on her tight, thin lips. "I'm Quinn Fabray and I'm playing Tinkerbell." Finn blushes as he notices how her gaze is never leaving him while she speaks, but he tries not to overthink things, so he lets this one fade away.

The other girls introduce themselves as well, although most of them will just be dancing, singing in the background or will stay behind the curtains, being the understudy for some other characters. After the boys from Fieldstone introduce themselves as well, politely shaking the girls' hands, they are told that they can now return to their rooms. Sam is wheeling Artie while Mike and Rory are arguing about some Sci-Fi series, to which Finn doesn't care the least about.

"You coming, dude?" Sam asks, stopping Artie's chair by Finn's side.

"Yeah, we're playing Halo, yo! It'll be _awesome_!" Artie says, doing a little dance on his chair, but Finn just laughs, shrugging.

"Sure!" He then glances over at Ms. Berry, who is going through some of the music sheets, dropping some of them on the floor. Seriously, she makes being clumsy the cutest thing ever.

"But um, I'll be right behind you, alright? I need to ask Ms. Berry something about the play." He taps Sam's shoulder lightly and watches as they leave the room before he walks towards his Musical Arts teacher, his skin already burning up at the way she bends over to reach some of the sheets she dropped.

She turns around and seems a bit startled as she feels someone creeping up behind her, but her frown melts into a small smile as she notices it's only Finn.

"Finn, hi!" She says with a small wave and _dammit, _she's so cute. "Did you enjoy our first get together?" He tries not to think about other ways they could be _getting _together because let's face it; getting a boner in front of your teacher _because _of her is wrong in so many ways.

"Uh, yep, I did. The girls seemed very nice." He nods. "Some of them were a bit scary, though." He replays the way the blond girl was staring at him like he was a prey and shivers a bit, barely noticing how he had just made Ms. Berry giggle.

"I don't see how seventeen year old girls seem scary, but alrighty!" She says with a shake of her head, tucking some of her papers in a file and brushing her sharp, long nails against the small starts that were glued to the plastic of the file. "You, uh, needed to ask me something?" She asks sweetly and he only nods as she looks at him and girls had never made him nervous before, but she is just so… Her. He can't take this; so he reaches his backpack and takes the Smiths record out of it, handing it to her shyly, and his ears already scarlet. "Finn…" Her voice is soft. "What's this?"

"That's yours." He tells her shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I only wanted it back for a while and I know how you said you _needed _the record back then and I just… I don't know." He shrugs uneasily, feeling _so _silly as she watches him. "I realized it, like, yesterday, that maybe; I didn't want to record so bad… I just wanted it because _you _did and that's sorta selfish of me so I just couldn't sleep at night thinking-" He stops talking immediately as she presses her soft, glossy mouth to his cheek, her lips lingering on his skin while she stands on her toes, her small fingers gripping onto his shoulder. He can feel her hair tickling his face and her perfume kind of gets everyone on him and he thinks that's _so awesome._

"Thank you." She says, staring at him with matching flushed cheeks and maybe they're just a couple of silly people who are not able to communicate like proper people, but it's cool, because it's her, so it's always cool. "That's very sweet of you." She says and he thinks he notices her battling her eyelashes at him and she bites her lip while she sways on her small feet, awkwardly holding her file tight to her chest. "So um, I should-"

"Yeah."

"'Cause, you know…"

"Right."

Awkward silence.

She turns around but before she leaves, she looks over her shoulder and grins at him, waving a little with her small hands. "Hey, Finn! Maybe you can drop by my office sometime and we could listen to the album together!" She looks down at her watch and sighs. "Crap, I gotta go! Well, bye!" And she disappears into the hallways.

She's perfect, he thinks as he walks towards his friends' bedroom. Just perfect.

* * *

On the second day of rehearsal, a week after the first one, the girls from the St. James School for Girls are throwing a party and they ask them, the boys, to come.

"It's going to be on Friday, 8pm, my place." The blonde who has yet to stop staring at Finn says, taking a piece of her hair and curling it around her finger. "My parents are going to be out of town, so it will be just us, no adult supervising!" She announces and everyone cheers, chatting amongst themselves about how incredible it's going to be. He watches as Quinn, if that's her name, he isn't sure, hands out the small invitations, smiling flirtatiously at him as she hands his, but he just thanks her and looks down at his shoes, which have suddenly become so interesting.

"I hope you're coming as well, Finn." She smiles at him from beneath her eyelashes. "Party won't be the same without you."

Finn opens his mouth to reply. "Yeah, um, about that-"

"Good afternoon, guys!" Ms. Berry says, suddenly walking into the auditorium. Finn's attention is instantly hers and he can't help but to grin as she adjusts her music sheets on the black piano. She is so freakin' cute and she doesn't even know it. "So, I want you all to sit down while I talk you through some of the first lines of the script, in case you're having any doubts. The first scene is set on the Darling's house…" And Finn doesn't even hear the rest of it, because as he sits on the floor, all he can acknowledge is how adorable she looks while she rambles about the play, she seems to excited, so passionate, is probably why he likes her so much.

Um, I mean, as a teacher, of course.

* * *

"Okay, okay: Santana Lopez, yay or nay?" Puck asks, licking his lips and leaning against the headboard while Finn frowns at him.

"Dude, she's gay." He says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She has a _girlfriend._"

Puck looks at him incredulously. "So? That only makes her like, ten times hotter."

"And one hundred times less available for you." Finn laughs while he stares at the screen, watching his character shoot Artie's right on the head. "Take that, Abrams! I am so good, man."

"Stop paying attention to your game and talk to me, you geek." Puck spits, slapping the back of his head.

He doesn't know why he invited Puck to sleep over, probably because he complained so much about his stink roommate and that he hated being around the guy that Finn actually felt sorry for him, but now, after the tenth time he got a slap on his head? He doesn't pity him so much. Puck takes another sip of his apple juice because _no, Puck, you can't drink beer with my mother on the house! _And burps loudly, the smell creeping into Finn's nostrils and making him frown, scrunching his nose in disgust.

"Dude, gross! Do you ever brush your teeth?" Finn asks, turning off the game and turning so he is facing Puck, who shrugs.

"Are you a chick?"

"No."

"Then I don't have to brush my teeth for you, Finnessa." Finn looks at him in disgust, running a hand on his face.

"Look, if you ever want to step a foot in my bedroom again, you're gonna have to brush your teeth or else..." By the way Puck was glaring at him; Finn knew he had won, watching his friend get up from the armchair and walking towards his backpack with a smirk, taking a toothbrush out of it and heading towards the nearest bathroom.

"Fine, but you play dirty." Puck says from the bathroom, his mouth already filled with water. Finn laughs and lays down the bed with one arm thrown on his face, covering his eyes as the lights from his bedroom are on and hurting his eyes. He is nearly falling asleep when his cellphone rings; he frowns at the ringtone, all the people who usually call him have a special ringtone for them, so that he can know who it is and if he wants to answer or not.

He sits up on the bed and reaches for his bedside table, pushing his alarm clock out of the way and watching it fall on the ground while he still looks for his cellphone. He hears it ringing again and again and sighs, so annoyed that this blathering noise won't stop for anything in the world. Finally, he finds his cellphone, which was hidden beneath Puck's sweaty and gross shirt and examines the screen, trying to make out the number on it, but not recognizing it; so, letting curiosity speak louder, he answers the phone, pressing it to his ear and speaking to it.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other side is familiar to him and even makes him smile. "Finn?"

He takes a deep breath before he replies back.

"Miss Berry."

* * *

"I know it's a Saturday afternoon and I know you may be very busy, but I remembered that you told me one day, when we were talking, that you knew how to work with computers and I just don't have much spear money to spend with assistance or anything, so-"

"It's alright, Ms. Berry, I'm um, glad to help!" He says, looking around the hall and gulping. "May I, um, may I come in?"

She stares at him for a moment before she nods, blushing. "Oh, of course! I'm sorry, I just… I have a lot in my head right now, sorry. Make yourself comfortable!" She gestures towards her couch. Finn nods and sits on the couch, his fingers tapping a beat onto his knee as he watches Ms. Berry walk into her bedroom, coming out with her laptop in hands. She sets it on the living room desk and Finn examines it for a moment, opening it and turning it on.

"What's the problem with it?" He asks while he waits for it to load.

"The screen, it's always black!" She says desperately. "I tried pressing every key of the keyboard, I tried turning it off and then on again, but nothing happens!" She sighs, resting her chin on her hand.

"Um, let's see…" Finn examines the screen for a moment, nodding at her words: it doesn't light up, all it shows is a black screen. Getting an idea, he takes the laptop in his hands and sets it on his lap, taking the battery off it and putting it back in after a few moments, turning the computer on again and smiling as the screen lights up. "Ah, got it! See, I've had that problem I long time ago, it's not tricky, and all you gotta do is take the battery off. Also, when I put your laptop on my lap, I realize it's overheated. Maybe you should stop using it while it's charging, you know, let it charge while it's off and on top of a solid surface; have you ever used it on top of a cushion or something?" She nods and he continues. "Um, maybe you shouldn't do that anymore. Put it on solid surfaces only from now on, that way the heat that leaves the laptop won't accumulate and make it overheated."

She smiles, nodding at every word he says. "Ah, thank you so much, Finn! I don't know how I can ever repay you!" He blushes with a modest shrug.

"No big deal. I fix my friend's computers all the time." She bites her lip at his words, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"We're friends?" He gulps, rubbing the back of his neck with a shy smile.

"I think we are." He turns to her with an apprehensive look on his face. "Why, do you not want us to be? Cause, like, that's totally okay, we-"

She takes his hand in hers, lacing her fingers through his in a comforting matter. "I'd really like that." She says quietly, biting her lower lip and gazing into his eyes, making him notice how her cheeks wear a red shade that matches his ears'.

He nods. "Okay."

He doesn't fail to notice that she is still holding his hand while she continues to speak, her pink tongue peeking through her mouth to lick her dry lips. "You don't understand how much that meant to me, Finn. My laptop is very important to me, not only because of all the files I have saved there, but because I need it to communicate with my dads." She continues to speak, though her voice is low and a bit sad. "My dad has the Alzheimer disease and every now and then he gets this memory issues, even though he is still fairly young; and even though my family used to be very rich, my dad was the one to bring home the biggest amount of money, but he had to retire, due to his disease and now, I'm the one to send money to my dads for his treatment." Finn spots a small tear running down her cheek as she takes a deep breath before continuing.

"I-I didn't want to be a teacher, at first, but my dad really needs this and I promised them both that I'd help them through this and-" She stops as she feels him squeeze her hand a little tighter, assuring her it's fine to speak. "I'm sorry; I don't know why I told you any of that." She shakes her head. "That was so inappropriate of me, you're my _student, _for crying out loud, and I'm not supposed to dump all my problems onto you like you're some sort of psychiatrist."

Finn shakes his head. "It's okay, you know, to feel upset every once in a while and want to talk to a friend." He blushes. "I've had so much on my plate these past few weeks, with my mom's new marriage and her new life but I've never had anyone to hear me, to want to talk to me, so… I know what you're going through. Kind of."

She smiles softly, her hand still laced with his as she looks up at him and he can spot the adoration in her eyes. "Has someone told you that you're actually really wise, even though you're only sixteen?"

"Seventeen." He corrects her with a smile and she giggles.

"Seventeen, sorry!" She shakes her head for a moment, still giggling, captivating him to laugh as well and they both just stand like that for a moment: laughing with their hands laced and with no worries in the world.

Eventually, the laughter stops and she lets go of his hand with flushed cheeks, getting up and running her hands through her hair, tying it on a ponytail while he stares up at her. "I um, you should really get going, Finn. I've got so much to do, you know, the apartment isn't going to clean itself and…"

"Right." He nods, getting up from the couch and being lead towards the front door by her, holding back a squeak as she places her hand on his back.

"So I'll see you at school, Ms. Berry."

She smiles. "You can call me Rachel." She tucks a stray of her hair behind her ear and battles her eyelashes at him, making him gulp.

"Right, I'll see you at school, _Rachel._"

She giggles at the tone he uses to say her name. "Indeed you will."

He presses the elevator button and waits for it to arrive, looking at Rachel every now and then over his shoulder with flushed cheeks. Just as the elevator door opens, she calls his name. He puts a hand against the elevator door so it won't go away and turns back to his teacher, who is walking towards him.

With no further word, she gets on her toes and kisses his cheek, her lips lingering on his skin a little longer than normal, making him flush from his head to toe. "Thanks again, Finn." She says before walking away, wearing a matching blush on her cheeks.

He gets into the elevator and his smile is so wide it hurts his cheeks, though he doesn't care. His mind goes through the earlier events: the handholding, the flirting, the giggling, and the kiss on the cheek and maybe, _just maybe, _he isn't alone in this.

Maybe she feels the same way.

* * *

**Tbc.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for the reviews! They mean a lot to me, please tell me what you think of the chapters, I appreciate it. By the way, I apologize beforehand for any typos you may find in there, I don't have a Beta reader, so most of the time, I end up letting a couple words sliding off without me noticing them (if anyone would like to Beta for me, please message me, I'd greatly appreciate it). Enjoy your reading!  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.**

* * *

It's official - though he may appear to be seventeen on the outside, he must be an old, grumpy man on the inside. Here he is, sitting on Quinn Fabray's couch while sipping his beer as everyone else runs around the house, screams, kisses and vomits on each other. Its chaos, but everyone else seems to enjoy it. Artie has Brittany and Santana on his lap, who're kissing each other and allowing him to watch - he wears a look that says _"I-Am-The-Luckiest-Bastard-Ever"_ written all over his face; Sam is already running his hands up and down a girl's back while they slow dance - even though that's a Pop song, whatever; Rory is chatting excitedly with that Sugar girl, though Finn is pretty sure she isn't understanding a word he's saying, because all she does is smile and nod at his words, Puck is already upstairs, violating what seems to be Quinn's parents room and Mike is dancing with an Asian girl with blue streaks on her hair.

Everyone seems to have someone, except for himself.

"Finn!" He hears someone squeal and as he looks up, he finds Quinn Fabray staring down at him with a big grin on her red lips.

Oh, no. "Hey, Quinn." He says in a monotonous tone, however, she doesn't seem to feel it, since she is still smiling widely at him. "Nice party." Finn mumbles and sips on his beer again, knowing that she has probably wanted to hear those words for him since the moment he walked into the house.

"Thanks!" She tucks her skirt under her thighs and sits on the couch by his side, smoothing her white, neat shirt. He examines her up and down, looking at her clothes - she's wearing a black skirt that starts on her waist and ends above her knees and is also wearing a silky, white shirt tucked in it. "Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, huh?" Finn hears the pride in her voice and nods.

"Yeah."

Quinn turns to him and beams. "I've always been known for my parties, y'know. Everyone in school says I throw the _best _parties ever, I'm a _very _popular girl." Finn notices that she's making some self-propaganda, but he shrugs it off and smiles.

"I'm sure you are." He nods at her. "Though I can't say the same for me, I am probably one of the geekiest guys in school." He chuckles.

"I think you're pretty cute." He notices she's slowly sitting closer and closer to him by the second and he swallows hard. "In fact-" She gets up and takes his hand in hers, tugging on it with a smirk. "Oh, I love this one! Shall we dance?" He frowns, pursing his lips.

"I don't know, Q..." He notices her cheeks flushing as he calls her by her nickname. "My dancing skills aren't exactly the best, I mean; I'm 6'3, for crying out loud." She giggles, tugging his hand once more.

"Oh come on, you can't be _that _bad! Here, I'll show you." She pulls him by the hand through the teen crowd and stands in the middle of the living room while gripping both of his hands and placing them on her hips, smirking wickedly at him. "Now, you come closer to me-" She presses her chest to his. "And we dance, like this." She begins, moving to the beat and swaying her head from side to side, while he tries to copy her moves and fails greatly, he makes her giggle when he pulls away and tries some _free-style_ dancing.

By the end of the night, he ends up stepping on her feet twice and no matter how much he apologizes, she brushes it off saying its fine, that she barely felt a thing. She leads him to the balcony, where they can talk more privately, and he agrees, because it's either that or being thrown up on, and Quinn is not that bad. She leans on the edge of the balcony while he stands awkwardly by her, breathing some cool, fresh air. Quinn lives in a nice, expensive neighborhood and the place is so quiet that it doesn't even feel like New York.

"Oh, it's kind of chilly here." She shivers, looking up at him from beneath her thick lashes. Maybe he should offer her his jacket?

He frowns, peeling the jacket off his body. "Um, you can have my jacket, if you'd like."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly accept that. You must be cold as well." She says, almost like she has rehearsed this line before.

"Okay." He says, adjusting the jacket back on his body and watching her face fall.

"On the other hand, I really _am _cold... Would you please-" He nods, shrugging his shirt off once more, handing it to her with a small smile. She wraps it around her body and grins at him.

"Thank you, Finn. You're such a gentleman."

"I'm really not." He says, uncomfortable under her gaze. She shouldn't be staring at him like she wants to jump his bones all the time, it freaks him out.

She just smirks wider. "Yes, you are. I mean, you're so-" She takes a deep breath and reaches for his hand. "You're so nice, so smart, so funny and _oh, _you're so cute, too..." She looks up at him and pouts a little, almost like she's preparing her lips for something. "Finn?"

He gulps. "Huh?"

"Would you be interested on..." She bites her lower lip. "Getting some coffee, sometime?"  
He looks down at her, his eyes wide. "I uh..." He can't help but to examine her face and even though it's dark, she really is pretty - her eyes are green, her eyelashes are thick, her skin is soft and her smile is kind of nice. He's going to say yes. He's going to say yes, until someone else's smile flashes on his mind, her teeth are white and straight, her skin is tanned and soft and her body is-

"Finn?" Quinn asks, her tone now softer and unsure.

He doesn't believe this. Here he is, with a perfectly normal girl, actually, an above average girl, who wants to date him but all he can think about is Miss B- _Rachel_. He doesn't want to feel like this, to feel this way about a teacher, about a friend, but he can't help the words that are leaving his mouth as he says.

"I'm sorry, Quinn, I can't." He breathes uneasily. "I have feelings for someone else."

* * *

It has been three days since Quinn's party happened and three days since he has actually said he has feelings for his Musical Arts teacher _out loud. _No one knows about, as his friends like to call, "his mysterious chick", but he doesn't think he'll ever tell them, either. Because come on, why would he do that? They'd only annoy him to no end for getting a crush at their teacher and would probably come up with more jokes than the ones he already has to endure every day and no thank you, he doesn't need _that_ (he is also having quite a hard time with staring at Ms. Berry - Rachel - in the eyes, probably because if he does, he'll tell her how he actually feels for her and she'll probably run away, screaming because he's a total freak).

Today, they have to rehearse for the play, though part of him tells him it's a bad idea because, hello, _Rachel, _another part of him tells him he should go because he needs help with his character; so he listens to the second part of him and goes to rehearsal anyway. As he arrives at the auditorium, he notices no one is there, just Mr. Schuester and Ms. Berry, both of them chatting happily about something, probably another Broadway musical - he's not ever going to admit that he has Googled that a day ago because he wanted to come up with conversation topics for her. As she sees him, her face lights up and she smiles, waving slightly at him.

"Finn, hi!" She says excitedly, making a "come here" motion with her hands, telling him to get up on the stage and join her and his History teacher, to which he obeys, getting up on the stage and walking towards them with a friendly smile on his lips. "You're here early!" Rachel grins, going towards him and getting on her toes to lace her arm around his neck and hug him slightly and though he wasn't expecting that, he hugs her back, her hair tickling his chin and the smell of strawberries entering his nostrils and damn it, the woman even _smell _awesome.

"Yeah, um..." He begins as she breaks the hug. "My friends were doing some Chemistry homework, but I'm already finished with it and since I don't have much to do, I decided to come here a bit earlier, if that's okay?" She nods in response, opening her mouth to respond, but Mr. Schuester cuts her and speaks before she does.

"Yes, it's fine, my boy. Take a sit." He gestures towards the floor with a chuckle. Finn shrugs and sits clumsily on the floor, almost falling on his butt, which gets some giggles from Rachel, who is trying her best to hide it from behind her files, which she has placed in front of her mouth. He smiles back. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes, Rachel, I just realized I forgot my music sheets in the car." Will says, walking down the stage and walking past Ms. Berry, who nods at him and tells him its fine.

Finally, they're left alone in the auditorium. She sits by his side, looking at him with a dreamy smile written on her lips. "Doesn't it feel great to be on stage?"

He was too busy staring at her face to hear her words. "Uh, what?"

She laughs softly. "I said, doesn't this feel amazing? Being here on stage, being able to perform in front of everyone else, earning cheers and applauses from them? It's the best feeling in the world, if you'd ask me." He nods mutely, resting his hands on his lap. She gives him another look and beams, reaching for the scrip he holds in his hands. "Would you like to run some of your lines with me? I'm a great actress, I promise. See this..." She says, sitting up straighter and clearing her throat.

_"I loves Harpo, God knows I do, but I'll kill him dead before I let him beat me." _She says, doing her best Sofia impression, which makes him laugh, throwing his head back and clapping his hands for her. "Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all night." She giggles, holding up the script for him; he takes it from her hand, blushing as he feels his fingers lingering against hers softly.

He runs his eyes on the lines before he clears his throat, ready to begin. _"Blast you, Peter Pan!"_

Rachel giggles at his voice before she reads the following line. _"Take that! Give up, Captain Hook? You give up?"_ She tries to make her Michael voice sound as childish as possible, which earns a grin from Finn.

_"Never! I'll teach you to cut off me hand!"_

Rachel reads Wendy's line as well. _"Oh no, John, it was the __**left **__hand."_

_"Oh, yes." _He nods. _"Thank you, Wendy."_

Rachel breaks into a smile. "Well, that was great! Your acting is very good, Finn, you're natural at this. Have you ever been into a play before?"

He shakes his head, blushing at her compliments. "Not really. I have helped on some plays though, directing and stuff, but it wasn't a big deal." He shrugs, though smiles as she pokes his side with her skinny finger.

"Of course it is! You seem to be very into theater." He nods in agreement. "Well, so am I. Have you ever seen Rock of Ages? I think it's the sort of Broadway musical you'd like." He wants to fist-bump himself because, _yeah, _maybe he found the official Broadway site and yes, _maybe _he read all about the most popular musicals, which includes Rock of Ages.

"I've heard about it. Did you know there's a movie about it?" He smiles. "It's still showing on the cinemas. Like, everywhere I go, there's a Rock of Ages poster." Okay, lie, but it's a white lie, so forgive him.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, it seems to be very good." He bites his lip, looking at her with soft, tempted eyes.

"Would you um, like to watch it with me, sometime?"

She smiles and he doesn't miss the way her cheeks are flushing now. "I'd love to Finn, but... I can't." His shoulders sink in defeat. "I'm your teacher and though it may seem normal for us, it might be frowned upon by other people, especially by the teachers from here..." She leans in to whisper. "These guys are so traditional that sometimes, I feel like I'm on the 60's or something." He chuckles because well, she's cute. She pulls away and gets up, heading towards the piano and running her nails on the keys softly.

He knows he shouldn't have asked her to go with him because now, there's this awkward silence between them and he feels so stupid. At least, she though he asked her out in a friendly way, not in an "I-Want-To-Make-Out-With-My-Teacher-So-Bad" way, though that _is _also true. He watches as she takes a sit on the piano bench and begins to play a soft, melodic symphony, her beautiful voice taking the room by the hand.

_"Alas, my love, you do me wrong, to cast me off discourteously,"_ She sounds like an angel and looks like one, too, her long hair falling on her shoulders, her lips pursing in concentration while her eyes are wide and sparkling, her fingers running on each note knowingly. _"For I have loved you well and long, delighting in your company."_ He looks at her in awe and she blushes, biting her lip. "What?"

"That was- _wow._" He breathes out. "I mean, just... Woah. I did not see that coming." She tucks a stray of her hair behind her ear shyly, looking down at her shoes.

"Really?" Her tone is low and unsure.

"Yeah! Are you kidding me? I mean, I knew you were good but that... Just, wow." He knows he doesn't have a way with words like she does, but he hopes she can tell what he's trying to say through his broken quotes.

She grins brightly at him, sitting down by his side once again, this time, she is sitting so close to him that their arms are touching and he can smell her perfume; which is probably one of the best smells ever. "Thank you. Now, shall we go over your first line again?" She points at the high-lighted quote, though as she does so, her breasts press against him without meaning to.

He just swallows.

"Um, yeah, that's probably a boob- I mean, _good, _good idea! Um, sorry." He coughs awkwardly, earning an amused look from her.

"Okay." She says with a teasing smirk. "I'm ready, _go._"

* * *

She asks him to come to her office, one day. He is in the middle of Algebra when she runs into the class, after excusing herself, obviously, and asking if she can borrow Finn for a few minutes. After the teacher allows her to do so, she walks in front of him on the hall, asking him to follow her. He does.

He sits on the chair he sat on the first day he came to her office, he remembers that well, it was when they sang One Direction with each other; and she sits in front of him, crossing her legs under the desk and leaning against the wooden surface, not noticing that her breasts are showing off a little more than they should. He isn't going to tell her either, because c'mon, if he can't touch, at least let him get a peek every once in a while.

"Finn, the reason why I called you here is concerning the project I asked you to do the other day, do you remember?" He shakes his head negatively and she sighs, showing him a piece of paper with a bunch of scrabbled themes on it. "These are the topics that I wanted you to talk about and you were the only one who didn't send the project to my e-mail. Now, I know that you probably have a lot on your head, with all the tests and the play, but you _have _to do this project, Finn, it's very important."

He gulps. "How important?"

"It's worth sixty percent of your grade." He groans, burying his face in his hands.

"Crap. Rachel, I am _so _sorry. I know I should've done that, but my mother called and we had a fight and everything at my house is a mess, I-" She holds her hand up to make him stop talking.

"Look, all the teachers here have a strict policy about this kind of thing - if you don't deliver your activities on time, I can't help you." He sighs, knowing he's wasting his time, trying to explain this to her.

"_However, _with all the classes I've been having to teach and with everything from the play, I can't manage it all by myself and this weekend, I'm gonna have to work on a lot of things - I'll need to fix some costumes, I'll have to start making the scenario, _not to mention _the music sheets, since some of them are missing and-" She breathes. "Look, I'm the point is, I need help this weekend with the play and though this is supposed to be _my _job, I think I can help us both here."

"How?" He asks with a frown.

"You'll help me with the play this weekend and I'll give you three extra days to deliver the project, how does that sound to you?" He grins, nodding excitedly.

"That sounds great! Rachel, that sounds _awesome. _Thank you, thank you, _so much!_" He knows she's trying not to giggle because she's biting onto her lower lip, and man, he wants to reach out for her and kiss her so bad, but he can't, because she is _Rachel, the teacher, _not Rachel, his girlfriend.

Oh, that sounds nice. "Okay, well, be at the auditorium at _seven _am, _sharp, _okay?" He nods, thanking her once again and leaving the room.

It's when he's walking back to Algebra that he realizes this - they're going to be alone for a whole day, the two of them, together.

Maybe he should forget delivering his projects more often.

* * *

He gets on the auditorium at seven am_ sharp_, just like she told him to. He walks in and smiles as he notices her presence - she is wearing jeans and a white tank top, her hair tied in a bun and, she looks amazing. Her clothes are simple and she has no makeup on her face, but in his opinion, she has never looked better. Now, she looks more like herself, more Rachel-y.

Finn gets on the stage and walks towards her, giving her a warm hug, to which she gladly returns, pressing his body to hers softly. He pulls away and follows her on the stage while she explains to him what they have to do today, detail by detail, she talks about the scenario, the costumes, the special effects, everything. After she's done, she turns around and claps her hands together, telling him that he can begin now.

By the middle of the afternoon, his stomach begins growling, displeased that it hasn't got any food ever since breakfast. She looks over at him with her eyebrows rising up to her forehead and he smirks.

"What, I'm a growing boy, I need food." He pats his stomach playfully, making her laugh.

She walks towards a small basket that rests on the stage on top of a picnic towel and kneels by the side of it, reaching out for a cushion and sitting on it comfortably, telling him to do the same.

As he does, she reaches for the basket and takes out two sandwiches and a bottle of orange juice, telling him that she prepared it last night, so it's still slightly fresh. He thanks her and pours them both some juice, clinging their cups together.

"To Peter Pan!" Rachel smiles and he can't help but to smile as well.

"Yeah," He nods. "To Peter!" He smiles and sips on his juice, watching as she does the same.

After she takes the cup away from her lips, he laughs at the sight: she's got juice on top of her lips and he has to say, she looks quite adorable as well.

"Hey, Rach," The nickname slides easily out of his mouth. "You better shave, you got some orange mustache going on over there." She squeaks a _what?! _And brings her hands to her mouth, mumbling an _it's not funny, Finn! _As he laughs, though she is giggling as well. He watches her cleaning her mouth with a napkin while he sips on his juice, examining her face.

This time, she's the one giggling at him. "Well, looks like you're not Mr. clean yourself, Finny."

She says, crawling towards him and grabbing a napkin in her hands, leaning in to wipe some juice off his lips, holding her gaze on his lip the entire time. He is looking at her as well, noticing the way her lips are parted and her eyes are examining his every feature carefully, like she wants to keep the image of his face burned on her brain. He likes her so much, it's starting to hurt his chest.

She pulls her hand away but continues leaning closer to him, her voice husky as she speaks.

"There you go." He doesn't know how, but his hands end up resting on her hips, squeezing the skin there softly, loving the feeling of it beneath his fingertips. He looks into her eyes and breathes hard as he speaks.

"T-thanks."

"Sure." She says, speaking right after he does. The tension in the room is palpable and as she is leaning in, he can feel his palms sweating, his eyes widening and his breath turning heavier by the second, because he's pretty sure he's about to kiss his Musical Arts teacher; her face is so close to his that her hair is tickling his nose and that her breath is touching his lips. Then, just as she's about to press her lips to his, there's a loud noise coming from the top of the stairs and she quickly pushes him away, both of them turning around with wide, scared eyes, like a deer in the headlights.

They turn around to find Mr. Martin, the janitor, staring at them with a confused look on his face as he picks up his broom from the floor.

Finn doesn't know what to do, Martin continues to sweep the floor and suddenly, Rachel is looking very alarmed, she is looking as if she has just gotten a wakeup call and that being near him is just something she can't do at the moment. So, in one swift motion, she picks up the picnic basket in her hands and gets up hurriedly, looking down at him with a confused look on her face.

"I-I should go." She says, looking around nervously. His face falls and as he tries to reach out for her, she flinches, pulling away from him.

"Rach..." He says softly, but she shakes her head.

"It's Ms. Berry, Finn." She gulps, so loud that it can be heard through the silence of the auditorium. "I will- I'll see you in class."

And before he can say another word, she leaves the auditorium in a hurry, not glancing back at him.

Now the only sound that can be heard in the auditorium is of his heart breaking in two.

* * *

**Tbc.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: So sorry for taking so long for posting, but hey, this is the longest chapter I've written in this fic so far! Well, I hope you enjoy! Reviews are always welcome, wink wink!  
**

* * *

He can tell by the way she avoids his gaze that she doesn't want him to approach her, and obviously won't even bother mentioning what happened between the two of them that Saturday morning ever again. He wants to, though, so badly.

It's painful to sit through her class, to watch her brown eyes sparkling with passion as she goes on and on about how the different types of voices can harmonize together creating a beautiful melody, and when she smiles brightly at Mike when he raises his hand to ask something, he melts a little, because her smile is gorgeous - if only she was smiling like that for him. By the middle of the class, she hands each one of them a paper sheet and tells them to write a small essay about Music Through The Years and when he reaches for his piece of paper, he accidently brushes his fingers against hers, causing her to snap her head at him and stare into his eyes with a repressive gaze, which makes him look down at his hands until he is sure she isn't there anymore.

At the end of the class, as usual, he is the last one to put everything back into his bag, but as he drops his notebook and ends up dropping all of his notes on the floor, he sighs tiredly, kneeling down and telling them he'll catch up with them later. He is trying to reach a note that slipped under his desk when a small, soft voice calls for him.

"Do you need any help?"

He looks up to see her staring down at him, her lower lip trapped between her teeth as she watches him and from this angle, he could easily stick his head under her skirt, a thought that runs through his mind at least four times a day, and as he hears her voice again, he flushes from head to toe, grunting out that he's alright, thanks and finally manages to grab that stupid piece of paper.

She kneels in front of him anyway, luckily in a way that doesn't allow him to peek at her panties, because honestly, he doesn't know if he could handle that. Rachel lets out a small sigh and reaches for some notes that still lay on the floor, tucking them back into his notebook and holding it open to him, so that he can put the rest of the notes there as well.

He can't handle this. He _needs_ to speak. "Rachel..." She shoots him a dirty look and he groans. "_Ms. Berry_, I-"

She shakes her head before he can finish. "So, it seems like we've managed to put them all back together, good job." She says, brushing some dirt away from her skirt. "Well, try not to drop your notebook next time, alright?" She says with a small giggle, trying to get up, but his hand on her wrist stops her.

"Are we really going to pretend that Saturday never happened?" She looks at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open for a few seconds as she just blinks at him, and he can feel her hand shaking in his.

"I-I don't know what you mean." She manages to get out, but it's so low that he almost misses it.

"We should talk about what happened, because-"

"_There is nothing to talk about!_" She shrieks, so loudly that it makes him wince and loosen his grip on her wrist. "I am your teacher, you are my student and you helped me with the play material because it was too much for me to do on my own and that is _all_ that happened." She says, getting up hurriedly and walking towards her desk, sitting behind it and going through some music sheets from the play, running her eyes through it so that she won't look up at him.

He stands up as well, shoving his notebook inside his bag and throwing it over his shoulder, walking in her direction.

"You_ know_ that's not all." He says softly, looking at her with hurt eyes.

"Don't you have classes to go to, Finn?" Her voice is cold, her eyes never leaving the music sheets. He doesn't say anything for a moment or two, but when he leans on her desk, staring at her face to face, her hands shake even more than they were before and she gulps loudly at the feeling of his breath hitting her face, just like that Saturday morning.

"I just want you to know that this isn't over." He tells her, his jaw tense and his fingers wrapped tightly on the strap of his backpack. "I don't give up that easily."

Then, he walks away, slamming the door behind him.

He doesn't hear her crying when he walks away.

* * *

She misses the rehearsal of the play that afternoon.

He gets there a little earlier than everyone else, hoping that he'll be able to find her and confront her about the Saturday Incident, which is what he calls it, but when he gets to the auditorium, he finds Mr. Schuester sitting on the floor with the girls from the St. James School For Girls around him, all of them sitting straight with their legs crossed in front of their bodies, all of them neatly arranged in a small circle, surrounding their teacher.

Mr. Schuester notices his presence and looks up, waving at him. "Finn, my man! You're here early."

He can feel Quinn's olive eyes burning holes through his head as he approaches the stage awkwardly. "Yeah, um, I was having trouble with some lines, so I wanted to read them with Ms. Berry again, since she was the one who helped me the last time-"

"Oh, I'm sorry Finn, she isn't coming today." Mr. Schue lets him know while running his eyes on a random script, touching Brittany's shoulder and pointing at one of her lines, instructing her on it. "But I could help you if you'd like? I'm not as vocally trained as Ms. Berry is, but my acting is quite alright."

_Oh no, Mr. Schue, actually, I just wanted to see Ms. Berry and maybe finish what we were about to start on Saturday, but thanks anyways. _"Uh, okay. Should I get up there or-"

"Yes, come join us!" He says, calling him to the stage, patting the floor by his side. Finn walks up to them and sits by his teacher, looking down at his hands so that he won't meet Quinn's insistent gaze, she has been staring at him ever since he walked in. It creeps him out, really.

Will is in middle of explaining to him how to pronounce certain words in a way that'll make him sound more in character when Brittany taps Mr. Schuester on the shoulder, asking for his help, _again. _He asks her if she can wait a little longer and she tells him she would, but that all of these words are making her head ache, so he excuses himself for a moment and tells Finn to find someone to help him in the meantime.

"Don't worry, Mr. Schue, I'll help him." Quinn Fabray's voice rings through his ears as their teacher gets up.

"Alright! Quinn is very good, Finn, I'll leave you in good hands." He tells him, patting his shoulder before walking towards Brittany and Santana.

Finn turns around awkwardly, watching Quinn as she sits up straighter and runs her skinny fingers through her straight, blonde hair. Finn ignores the little voice in his head that tells him that Rachel - _Ms. Berry_, likes to do that as well, only that her hair is shinier and falls easily on her face when she does it.

"So," She begins, resting her elbow on top of her knee and resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "I didn't even _see_ you leave the party the other night, you must have been in a hurry."

He gulps, running his fingers through his hair. "Y-yeah, um, the school has a very rigid curfew, so..." He clears his throat. "But anyway, as I was telling Mr. Schue, this line over here-"

She interrupts him. "But did you like it?" As he stares at her in confusion, she sighs. "The party, I mean. Did you have fun?" She's looking at him with a weird sparkle in her eyes.

"Uh, yeah. It was alright." He chuckles nervously. "You throw _great_ parties."

Quinn throws him a thousand watts smile, suddenly looking quite giggly. "So I've been told!" She battles her eyelashes at him, and as her eyes wander all over his body, he shifts uncomfortably on the floor, feeling like a piece of meat. "Listen, I know I must've freaked you out a little on the party, but I'd really like if we could keep in touch." She reaches for his knee and squeezes it slightly. "I know that you don't want to go out with me, but I was hoping we could still be friends? You really _are _a nice guy and I'd hate if we just wasted our relationship like that, we _do _have a lot in common, don't you think?"

He doesn't know how to respond to that, so he simply nods. "Good!" She beams, throwing some of her blonde hair back. "Now, which line was it anyway?"

* * *

After three days of not coming to work, Ms. Berry finally shows up - she looks tired, though, and Finn almost believes that the reason why she missed those classes doesn't have to do with him... The key word is _almost _believes.

Luckily, her class is the last one of the day, so after the bells rings and everyone goes back to their dorms, he'll make up some excuse to stay behind and then, she won't be able to run away from him. He doesn't like having to do this, _planning _how he's going to get her to talk to him - it just feels weird, doesn't it? Before what happened in the auditorium, she'd happily stay after class with him and talk to him until Ms. Pillsbury came in the room and told him to go back to his dorm _or else! _But now, she acts like he is a total stranger - worse, she acts like he has a very contagious disease and that if she breaths the same air he's breathing, she'll catch it.

What makes him saddest though, is that he felt like he could share everything with her - she isn't just his teacher like all the old men in here, she was his _friend, _his confident, someone he could open up to; and though he really likes his friends, they're totally great, he'll never be able to discuss certain things with them, simply because they're all seventeen year old boys, and honestly, do you _see _any of them talking about their feelings openly with him whenever one of them has an issue?

He doesn't either.

So, after she takes everyone's essays back and neatly settles them inside the drawer on her desk, she says they're all dismissed and tells them to have a nice weekend, but he's pretty sure almost no one heard it, because they're all rushing through the door, ready to have a very fun, non-schoolish weekend, and really, can you blame them? This week officially _sucked.  
_

She doesn't notices his presence, or at least pretends not to, as she goes through some of the essays, a small pout forming on her lips every time she reads something wrong or absurd written in them, underlining the words with a red pen and scribbling notes on top of them. He slowly tucks all of his material back in his backpack and throws it on his shoulder, his fingers hooked tightly around the strap as his gaze falls on her; and then, he stays there for a moment, in silence, just taking in her face - the way she frowns whenever she reads a typo, the way the corners of her mouth turn upwards whenever someone brings up a fun fact and how her hair falls onto her face when she leans in to read something that she can't quite understand.

He's so into her that he doesn't even notice a desk on his way, and as he walks into it, making it fall down, she finally notices his presence, her eyes widening as she gasps at the sound, her small hand flying to her chest as she feels her heartbeat. _Smooth, Hudson, _he thinks to himself as he crouches down and picks the desk up, adjusting it back on its original place, feeling his neck turning red with embarrassment.

"Finn!" She squeaks, and he notices how she's wearing an alarmed look on her face. "You _scared _me, please don't do that again."

He rubs the back of his neck in shame. "Sorry." He says, looking down at his feet, not being able to face her after such an embarrassing moment. She just shrugs and tells him to be more careful next time and returns to grading the essays.

"You didn't show up for a while." He finally breaks the silence, looking down at her with a worried yet hurt expression on his face.

She doesn't look up at him, barely nodding. "Yes, I, uh, had a very busy week." She shakes her head. "It won't happen again."

He nods, dropping his backpack on a random desk and shoving his hands in his pockets, blowing air through his mouth as he thinks about his following words.

"I missed you." He tells her simply.

This time, she _does _look up, her eyes deep and soft. "Finn, don't do this..."

He walks closer to her, his knees bumping against the edge of her desk. "I'm serious." He whispers, looking down at her while playing with the inside of his pockets, in a nervous, adolescent way. "You disappeared for _three _days, Rach-"

"Don't call me that." She begs, her voice weak and broken.

He ignores her. "I was really worried about you." One of his hands comes out of his pocket and his fingers snake through his hair, and she can't help but to admire him, looking up at him with sparkly eyes, the adoration she feels for him clear in her gaze. "Mr. Schue wouldn't tell me why you were gone, but no one else knew either, so I was kind of freaking out for a minute there, just hoping everything would be alright with you."

She sighs, her hands dropping to her lap and fingers grasping onto her skirt. "You shouldn't have, you know." She shakes her head. "I-I've had a family emergency, but I guarantee you it's all fine, now." His eyes bore into hers as he speaks the next words.

"Is it, really?" He sits down on the edge of her desk, one foot touching the floor while the other one is swaying in the air. "I really _did _miss you, you know."

She looks like she's about to cry. "Finn-"

"No, let _me _speak." He breathes. "Every time I saw you, you'd just run away from me or look away and I don't know what happened, but I want you to know that whatever I did, I'm sorry_. _I am so, so sorry because the last thing I wanted to do was upset you. You mean so much to me, Rachel, and you don't know it, but I care about you more than I can explain... You're just so _different, _you know? So _special, _so unique - I just feel like I've found something in you that I haven't found in anyone else around here, and I don't know if that's good or bad, but I know that I _need _you to be my friend, y'know?" There are tears running down her face and no matter how much he wants to lean in and brush his thumb against her cheeks and make the tears stop, he contains himself and continues to speak. "B-because that's what we are, right? Friends, and I know that I messed up that Saturday in the auditorium, but you gotta know that I didn't mean to-"

"That's the point, Finn." She sniffs, wiping the tears away from her cheeks. "We are _not _friends."

"What?" He asks, so quietly that he doesn't know how she's able to hear it. "But you said-"

"I _know,_" She raises her voice. "What I said, but I can't... I can't _do _this. You're my _student _and that's all you'll ever be."

Suddenly, he gets up and he has never been so angry before - he can feel his blood boiling in his veins, and his vision turning blurry, and suddenly, he feels a lump in his throat. "_Why?_!" He spits angrily. "Why would you _say _that, Rachel? You know that's not true!"

"Don't call me that!" She shrieks, getting up as well so that she's facing him, her eyes staring straight into his. "Don't call me by my name; you must call me as everyone else does! As all the other _students _call me!"

"I'm not _everyone else_!" He steps closer to her, wanting to place his hands on her shoulder and shake him until she realizes that she doesn't mean any of this. "I'm the guy who helped you on your first class here, I'm the guy who went over to your place to fix your laptop, and I'm the guy who runs his lines with you because he loves the look you get whenever you see that he is improving! I'm the guy who _cares _about you and I thought you cared about me,too, but it seems like I was wrong!"

"Don't you get it?!" She throws her hands in the air. "That's _the exact _problem! I do care about you! I care about you _too _much - I care about you in a way that makes me want to run to you and comfort you whenever you're looking sad, or to hug you and celebrate with you whenever you've achieved something! I care about you way more than I should care, Finn, I care about you _so _much that whenever I look at you, my body gets out of control - my heartbeat gets faster, my breathing gets shorter, my vision gets clearer and the _one _thought I get, whenever I'm staring into your eyes, is how _much _I'd want to-" She stops suddenly, her hands flying to her mouth as her eyes widen and suddenly, it's like she realizes she has said too much. He just stands there, looking at her with wide eyes, frozen on the spot as he replays her words in his head.

"How much you would want to _what?_" He whispers, looking down at her. Suddenly, he feels bolder, and he walks closer to her, so close that he can hear her gulp as she looks up at him, so close that he can feel the smell coming from her hair - has she always smelled like apples?

"How much... I... I would..." Her lower lip trembles. "How much I'd want to kiss you." She whispers, looking down and avoiding his gaze.

He knows this is wrong, he knows he shouldn't be doing this, he knows he would - they would - get into so much trouble if someone walked in on them right now, but even the little voice in his head that tells him not to do it won't stop him as he rests his rough palms on her soft cheeks, rubbing the skin there softly, enjoying the feeling of it underneath his fingertips, and before he can even think, he brings her face closer to his, their noses bumping together as he looks into her eyes - he can see that she's scared, but he can also see the desire in them, her dark pupils won't let her lie. Without a second thought, he finally leans in and brushes his rough lips against hers, feeding every single one of his fantasies as he feels her mouth on his; and though she hesitates at first, he feels her lacing her arms around his neck, kissing him back as softly as she can, her hands shakily caressing the skin of his neck as he drops his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

He brushes his tongue against her lower lip, seeking for entrance, and as she opens her mouth wider and allows his tongue to slide in, he can hear husky moans leaving her throat, her arms tightening around his neck as her tongue finds his, their muscles brushing against each other as if their lives depended on it.

He is the one to break away first, his lungs burning for air as they break apart. She is slightly leaning against her desk, her palms resting on the wooden surface so that she can get some balance, because she really doesn't trust her knees right now. He feels his lips burning from the pressure that her mouth made on his, and he can't help but to bring his fingers to his lower lip, brushing against it as if he's trying to prove to himself that this is real, this _did _happen and is not a dream.

"I've wanted to do that for so long." He tells her quietly. She looks up at him, her eyes glassy as she breathes out shakily, her hands now resting on her chest as she stares at him.

Then, she starts crying.

And it's not like before, she's not silently crying, just sitting there with tears running down her cheeks, _no, _she's crying openly, loud sobs leaving her throat as she grasps on the fabric of her blouse, her face wet as big, fat tears run down her cheeks, her little body trembling as she breathes shakily. Finn frowns, approaching her carefully.

"Rach?" He asks softly, not wanting to upset her even further. Was it that bad? As she continues to cry, he rests his hand on her shoulder and squeezes it softly, rubbing it up and down with a worried gaze on his face. "Are you okay?" _Duh, stupid question - she's crying, you idiot.  
_

"I...I...I can't..." She chokes out between her sobs, her hands on her face as she cries into them. "I... Need... Water." She manages to say clearly. Rapidly, he nods, reaching into his backpack and fishing a small bottle of water out of it - he always cares it around, just in case he gets super thirsty and isn't allowed to leave the classroom. He hands the bottle to her, already open of course, as her shaky hands aren't able of opening anything right now, and he thanks him quietly, pressing the bottle to her lips and gulping on it until she calms down a little more, finally not sobbing anymore, but still crying.

She hands him back the bottle and swallows hard, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ear. "I want t-to...To go home." He nods, understanding why she's telling him this - clearly, she isn't going to be able to drive, so he checks the hallway, making sure no one is there before he takes her hand, squeezing it reassuringly and leading her through the halls, until they reach the parking lot. Making sure no one is seeing them, he takes the keys away from her and unlocks the car, helping her inside and entering the car as well, sitting behind the steering wheel.

He turns to look at her, his heart breaking at the sight of her: her makeup is running down her face, her nose is red and her eyes are swollen. "I'm going to drive you home, okay?" He asks softly.

She just nods.

* * *

As soon as he parks in front of her building, she turns around to face him, her face stained with tears as she bites onto her lower lip, brushing her fingertips against her cheeks in order to wipe her tears away.

"I'll lead you upstairs." He whispers weakly. Truth was, he thought she'd be happy with that happened - in his dreams, she'd jump into his arms and declare her feelings for him, and after he did the same, they'd escape to her apartment when they'd make love until he had to go back to his dorm (not the most erotic dream he ever had about her, but one of the best, surely).

Finn, ever the gentleman, leaves the car and opens the door for her, locking it as soon as she leaves the vehicle; then, he looks around, making sure no one familiar is around to see them because, c'mon, they might not suspect anything now, but a student coming to their teacher's house is not exactly _common.  
_

He lets her walk up the stairs in front of him, wanting to make sure that she'll be okay and that if she needs him, he'll be behind her through the whole way and will be able to catch her in case she falls down. Finally, they stand in front of the front door of her apartment, but she doesn't say anything, just looks down at her feet and plays with her keys, taking deep breaths that make her chest rise and fall to each breath. Not wanting to prolong this awkward moment any longer, Finn slides his hands into his pockets and sways on his calves, clearing his throat as he looks down at his feet.

"So, I should..." He murmurs. "I should go, shouldn't I?"

She doesn't answer him, instead; she turns around and inserts her key in the keyhole, unlocking her door. He takes that as a sign of rejection and turns around, pressing the elevator button (he was too tired and moody to walk down the stairs), but as he is about to enter the elevator, her voice rings in his ears.

"Come in, Finn." She tells him simply, holding tightly onto the doorknob. He turns around, confusion flashing in his eyes as he examines her - so, she wouldn't talk to him through the whole car ride, and now she wants him to come in? Not only is he slightly upset, but also scared - he knows that as soon as he walks through the door, everything that happened or could've happened between them will be over - she'll tell him it was a _mistake _and will probably ask him not to tell anyone about this, and even though the doubt of what'll happen hurts him, the sureness of what _won't _happen hurts him even more.

However, he doesn't have another choice, does he? He assumes he probably should just get this done with - the sooner she _denies _him and cuts him off, the sooner his wounds will heal, right?

He turns around and walks into her apartment, sighing at the sight of her tidy living room - he remembers when he came here for the first time, to help her fix her laptop - she was so grateful that day that she even kissed his cheek! But now? It all seems like a distant dream. Something that would never happen again.

She turns around to face him and sits down on the couch, resting one of her hands on her lap while the other one pats the empty space next to her on the couch. "Sit down, please." He does as he's told, sitting down by her side without another word. He shifts uncomfortably in his seat as she stares at him with a deep, yet unreadable expression - it's like her gaze is piercing right through him. She takes a deep breath before she begins speaking. "Firstly, I'd like to thank you for taking care of me when I needed you, and for respecting me enough not to push me to say anything, it means a lot to have someone like you by my side, Finn, it truly does."

She reaches for his knee, squeezing it softly. "I know that what happened back at the school was confusing for you, believe me, it was confusing for me, too... I never knew I'd feel this way about someone before, let alone a student, but what happened between us was..." He could make out the blush on her cheeks. "Very, _very _nice." She sighs, running her hand up and down his knee now, almost in a comforting matter. "But before I - _we _- do anything else, I'll have to tell you the truth - the whole truth, and I can only hope that won't affect your opinion about my persona... Alright, here it goes." She adjusts herself on her seat, sitting up straighter and swallowing hard, her stomach doing little flips inside her body.

"I don't know if you know this, but I'm from Lima, Ohio... I lived there almost my whole life, and though I love New York, Lima is what I can call my _home. _I was raised by two gay fathers, who have been nothing but sweet and supportive of me and my every decision, and when I announced, at the age of _six _that I'd become a Broadway star, they did everything they could do to help me and my career - I auditioned for community theater, Broadway plays, Off-Broadway, I've had dancing, acting and singing lessons ever since I can remember and one day, when I got a letter that said I was accepted in NYADA, they couldn't be happier for me, and they supported me and helped me pay for everything as I moved to New York, in order to start building my dreams."  
Suddenly, there were tears in her eyes, and she stopped talking for a moment, taking a deep breath in order to calm herself.

"But then, just as I finished my college education, my world started falling apart." The tears are running freely down her face at this point. "O-one day, as I was about to audition for a independent production, I got a c-call from my Daddy, and... And... He had taken my Dad to the hospital, because he-he was getting many mood swings and he was usually a very cheerful person, an-and after they ran all the possible tests on him, h-he was diagnosed with... With Alzheimer's Disease." She sobs.

"I didn't know what to do, be-because he had always been so strong, you know? He was the one who brought food to our table, always, and suddenly, he was sick and the disease was clearly affecting him, and I couldn't just stand there and do nothing..." She wipes the tears from her face, but it's useless, since more of them are falling down her cheeks. "S-so I decided to postpone my dream for a while and find myself a _solid _career - and as I needed something that would require my college degree, I ended up stumbling upon Fieldstone, and now I'm concentrating myself one hundred percent on helping my fathers financially."

"I have been so stressed lately, so full of everything, I felt like I was about to break down at any moment but then... Then I met you, Finn." Her wet eyes look up at him, her eyelashes heavy with her tears, he notices as she reaches for his hand and runs her thumb on his palm softly. "You make me feel better, Finn; when I'm around you, I feel free, I feel like nothing else matters... I feel in peace." Rachel manages a shaky smile. "Which is why I reacted that way when we kissed - I know that if I lose you, I won't be able to handle everything else in my life, and then everything will start falling apart, and I know how selfish this sounds, but Finn, I... I need you. I need you to be with me, to makeme feel better, to make me feel _good._" She sniffs. "B-but I also need this job, you see? And I know I shouldn't be risking it, because it's very important for me and for my family, but at the same time, I'm not sure how I'll ever be able to pull away from you. Now that I've tasted your lips, Finn..." Her gaze falls on his lower lip, so full and so ready for her own lips to take over. "I don't think I'm ready to let go."

He takes a moment to digest all the information she has just thrown on him, staring into her eyes with hope yet fear written on his gaze. "You want me?"

The corners of her mouth kick upwards. "Yes." She says as she tucks a stray of her hair behind her ear and bites on her lower lip. "Do _you _want me? The last thing I want to do is to force you into something you didn't want to be a part of."

"I want you." He answers without missing a beat.

"And you understand the precautions that we'll have to take for this, right?" She moves closer to him. "Sneaking around, having to pretend we barely know each other during class, not telling this to _anyone..._"

He nods. He knows how important this job is for her, and though he'd really like to call her his in front of his friends, to parade around with her in his arms, he'll take what he can get.

"As long as you're mine, Rachel, I really think I can handle it all."

For the first time in a long time, her lips twist into a bright, happy smile. "I'm yours."

He kisses her again.

* * *

**Tbc.**


End file.
